Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Some EU officials have been unofficially negotiating to import Iranian gas, an informed source told Iran 's Fars news agency May 13.
Recently, some oil and trade delegations, some of which are members of the EU, have traveled to Iran and met senior Iranian oil officials to import gas from Iran and invest in the Iranian oil sector, the source added.
The theme of the negotiations was the construction of a pipeline to export Iranian gas, the source said, adding that Iran has called for European investment to expedite the construction work.
Iran in the past said its gas would be a necessary component of the now-shelved Nabucco gas pipeline slated for European markets. That pipeline would've carried natural gas from Azerbaijan's massive Shah Deniz field. A rival BP-led project from offshore Azerbaijan, part of a network dubbed the Southern Corridor, is now moving forward.
"The transfer of natural gas from Iran to Europe could be an alternative source of supply and could help Europe to diversify its energy sources", said Kazem Jalali, a senior Iranian MP.
Jalali noted that construction of a connecting pipeline from Iran to Turkey "is something feasible" and said EU states should "follow-up on this in a serious manner".
Edited by CN