Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 22 / Trend A.Badalova /
Nabucco consortium considers Nothern Iraqi gas as an option to secure future gas supply to Europe, Dow Jones Newswires reported on Wednesday with the reference to the project official representative.
"Why shouldn't we pipe gas from Northern Iraq," Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH spokesman, Christian Dolezal said.
He stressed that Northern Iraq has huge potential as a gas producer.
"We should explore that as an option to secure future gas supply for Europe," Dolezal said.
Nabucco gas pipeline is one of the Southern Gas Corridor projects, which is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region and Middle East to the European countries. Gas produced during the second stage of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field development is to be the main source for the Nabucco project.
The construction of Nabucco pipeline with maximum capacity of 31 billion cubic meters is planned to start in 2013 and its first supplies are scheduled for 2017.
The project's partners include Bulgarian Energy Holding, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas, Austrian OMV, German RWE and Hungary's FGSZ.
Dolezal also stressed that teh consortium still remains focused on its primary project of a major pipeline to carry Caspian natural gas to Europe.