German utility RWE AG (RWE.XE) "is ready to live up" to the commitment it has made as a partner in the consortium that plans to build a nuclear power plant in Bulgaria, but financing needs to be arranged by its partner, the Bulgarian government, Chief Executive Juergen Grossmann said Thursday.

"I can't say that the project is already financed," Grossmann told analysts in a conference call.

RWE owns a 49% stake in a joint venture with Bulgaria's state-owned National Electricity Co. that seeks to build the 2-gigawatt EUR4 billion reactor near the town of Belene. The power plant is planned to begin operations in 2014.

The new Bulgarian government recently said it would review the justification for big energy projects, including Belene, because of the economic crisis.

The government's comments were followed by media reports that said the Belene project is on the brink of failing due to lack of financing.

RWE's Grossmann Thursday said he met with Bulgarian government officials, and that the government is starting to live up to its commitment.

He added, however, that Bulgaria also needs to secure financing for the 3,300 Nabucco gas pipeline, in which RWE is also a partner, saying the country will have to set priorities.

Nabucco is considered crucial to secure Europe's growing demand for natural gas as domestic supply is steadily falling. The pipeline, with a planned capacity of up to 31 billion cubic meters of gas a year, would further diversify Europe's supply sources, bypassing traditional pipeline routes for Russian gas.

RWE is part of the consortium that plans to build the 3,300 kilometer-long Nabucco pipeline, which aims to ship natural gas to Europe from Central Asia via Turkey and Austria. The Nabucco consortium comprises RWE, OMV AG (OMV.VI) of Austria, MOL Nyrt (MOL.BU) of Hungary, Transgaz of Romania, Bulgargaz of Bulgaria and Botas of Turkey. Each of the shareholders own a 16.67% stake in the consortium.

Company Web site: www.rwe.com

-By Jan Hromadko, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 503; jan.hromadko@dowjones.com