Turkey doesn't rule out Iran, Russia in Nabucco

ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey's energy minister on Saturday said Iran and Russia may supply gas to an EU- and US-backed gas pipeline project in the future, even though the project is designed to reduce Europe's reliance on Russian energy and Iran is not a favored source.

Taner Yildiz made the comments during an interview with private NTV television, ahead of a ceremony on Monday when Turkey, Austria, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary will sign an intergovernmental deal to allow the pipeline to pass their territory.

Turkmenistan on Friday said it is prepared to provide natural gas to the project, while Azerbaijan signaled a possible contribution, raising hopes of securing suppliers to make the pipeline viable.

Turkey also regards neighboring Iran and Russia as future suppliers but it did not invite Tehran because of the ongoing standoff over the country's nuclear program. The United States says Iran's participation in Nabucco could only be possible after a normalization of diplomatic ties.

"We should not be surprised if we see Russia as a supplier one day," Yildiz said. "We can also easily see Iran in this project as a supplier in the future."

In reference to Iran's nuclear standoff, Yildiz said energy projects can sometimes help improve the international environment, adding that Turkey has information that some European countries have already signed initial agreements with Iran. He did not name those countries.

There is need to secure suppliers to utilize the pipeline's 31 billion cubic-meter carrying capacity, Yildiz said. Other possible suppliers are Iraq and Egypt.

Europe is likely to remain to some extent dependent upon Russian supplies, but the Nabucco project would alleviate problems such as the sudden shut-off in deliveries via Ukraine witnessed earlier this year.

Russia provides over a quarter of Europe's gas, and 80 percent of that moves over Ukraine's pipelines. The volume of gas from Nabucco in the best case is no more than 5 percent of Europe's consumption.

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