Unofficial talks over Nabucco pipeline, says Tehran gas chief

Oct 31, 2009, 14:28 GMT

Tehran - Iran has started unofficial talks with some European energy firms over the Nabucco gas pipeline project, the manager of the Iranian gas company said Saturday.

Talking to the Mehr news agency, Reza Kazeizadeh said that Nabucco could not be implemented without Iran and Tehran has therefore already started unofficial talks with some firms.

However, the energy official refused to disclose the names or nationality of the firms.

Due to US opposition and trade sanctions, Iran has been denied being the main gas route to Europe - despite being regarded by many experts as the most economical route.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during his visit to Tehran earlier this week that Iran's participation in the Nabucco project could help diminish Europe's dependency on Russian gas.

Iran has the second-largest proven natural gas reserves after Russia with 21 trillion cubic metres, which is 41 per cent of the total global share. Iran's production of natural gas stands at 7 billion cubic metres per year.

Building on the 3,300-kilometre-long Nabucco pipeline is scheduled to start in 2011. From 2014, it is intended to transport 30 billion cubic metres of gas to Europe every year.

An estimated 8 billion euros (11.7 billion dollars) will be spent on the project. Gas suppliers so far under consideration include Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Iraq.