Iran in NABUCCO project

During the meeting between Iran Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Turkish Minister of Energy Taner Yildiz it was stressed that Iran is interested in participating in the NABUCCO project.

Mottaki said that the most important issue for the project was sourcing enough gas to fill the pipeline, and this would have to come from either Azerbaijan, Russia, Eastern Caspian basin or Iran. There is a possibility that Russia would refuse to pump its gas through Ukraine, and therefore through NABUCCO. Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan can already provide gas to Europe through Russia or Iran, but Iran itself has huge supplies of natural gas waiting to be exported.

Iran has bilateral agreements on gas supply with different European countries, so the preconditions exist for Iran to become a supplier of the NABUCCO project. So it is up to the Europeans. If European countries are ready to receive Iranian gas they can start negotiations, and Turkey does not object to participating in these negotiations.