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US Hopes Iran Can Supply Europe with Gas

The US has expressed hope that Iran changes position so that the country's gas could be used in projects such as Nabucco to diversify sources of energy supply.

"Today it is not time to use the Iranian gas in the projects due to country's violation of its international obligations and presenting a threat to international peace and stability," the US Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy, Richard Morningstar, said Monday in Baku, Azerbaijan.

This is while Morningstar, whose country has already opposed Iran's involvement in the $10 billion project, said during an energy summit in April that Washington did not exclude Iran as a potential supplier for the Nabucco pipeline.

In addition, the Nabucco consortium managing director Reinhard Mitschek hinted in early February that the consortium was considering Iran as one of the several starting points for the construction of the pipeline.

The proposed 3,300-kilometer Nabucco pipeline aims to carry natural gas from Central Asia via Turkey and the Balkan states to Austria, bypassing Russia and Ukraine.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in March that the Nabucco gas pipeline is not feasible without Iran's involvement in the project.

"...Nabucco will not reduce the number of transit countries but increase them. Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia. But even that is not enough, as Nabucco cannot be carried out unless Iran joins the project," Morningstar stated.

The projects such as Turkey-Greece-Italy (TGI) gas pipeline and Nabucco are very important from a strategic point of view and in terms of diversification, Morningstar pointed out.

Iran owns 16 percent of the world's natural gas reserves.