Iraq makes ambitious Nabucco offer

ANKARA, Turkey, July 14 (UPI) -- Iraq can offer nearly 530 billion cubic feet of natural gas for the Nabucco pipeline by 2015 to help allay supply concerns, the Iraqi prime minister said.

Ankara hosted regional delegates Monday for the signing of an intergovernmental agreement on the $10.3 billion Nabucco gas pipeline to Europe.

Europe hopes the pipeline will bring diversity to a regional energy sector that relies heavily on Russia. The project faces a series of setbacks in terms of project financing and commitments to fill its expected capacity of 1.09 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, however.

Azerbaijan is the only country to express its readiness for Nabucco, though recent gas deals with Russian energy giant Gazprom may complicate Baku's energy ties with Europe.

Project backers see the Monday agreement as a milestone for the 2,050-mile pipeline, noting the enthusiasm expressed at the ceremony will encourage more suppliers to come onboard.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, has offered to supply nearly half of the Nabucco gas requirements by 2015, the Financial Times reports.

Austria's OMV and Hungary's MOL, Nabucco partners, have expressed interest in exploring the resource potential in the Kurdish region of Iraq, and consortium executives say those reserves may be available as early as 2010.

Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Iran could play a role in Nabucco "when conditions allow."