By Barbara Lewis and Justyna Pawlak BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU ministers must avoid fruitless debate over which of two rival pipeline projects is the way to cut reliance on Russian gas and both pipelines could be built one day, EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said in a letter seen by Reuters. The EU executive is anxious to present a united front, while dominant supplier Russia attempts a divide-and-rule strategy by negotiating gas supplies with individual EU member states with conflicting interests.

German utilities giant RWE has sold its 17 percent stake in Europe's troubled Nabucco gas pipeline project to OMV for an undisclosed sum, the Austrian oil and gas group said Sunday. The two companies had said in December that they were in talks, and in February OMV's chief executive Gerhard Roiss said that the Austrian company would acquire the stake. An OMV spokesman confirmed the acquisition to AFP on Sunday, without providing any financial details. RWE also confirmed the deal, saying the transaction was completed in March.

Nijat Mustafayev; The Greek Parliament ratified the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between Albania, Italy and Greece on the construction and operation of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project, APA-Economics reports. The IGA between the three countries, which was signed in Athens on February 13, confirms the host countries' support for TAP and their cooperation for the project's timely implementation, TAP reported. Note that, TAP will transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and further into Western Europe.

LONDON (Reuters) - British wholesale gas prices fell by up to 20 percent on Monday, undermined by major gas shipments due from Qatar and Trinidad to help replenish stored gas reserves depleted by weeks of abnormally cold weather. The price of gas for weekend delivery fell about 20 percent to 84 pence per therm, while the day-ahead gas contract slumped to 93.50 pence, a drop of around 11 percent.