TEHRAN, May 4 (UPI) -- Iran could play a role in the Nabucco gas pipeline for Europe if conditions are favorable but there are no plans to follow up on the project, ministers said.
Europe aims to break the Russian grip on the gas market with the Nabucco project. Despite widespread political support for the project, supplier nations have been slow to commit
Iran has said in the past that its vast natural gas reserves could help feed the pipeline, though officials in Washington and the European Union reject the notion.
Turkey, which is to host a portion of the Nabucco pipeline, enjoys warm ties to Iran, adding to the speculation that some Iranian gas could wind up in Nabucco.
Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mir Kazemi, in an interview with Iran's state-funded broadcaster Press TV, said that Iran was working on a variety of options to export natural gas.
Turkey, he said, could act as a transit country for Iranian gas. Nabucco partners, however, will have to accept Iran's terms for gas supplies, he said with few specifics.
"We are not interested in following up on the Nabucco plan," he stressed.
Nabucco would stretch some 2,000 miles from Turkey through Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria. Construction is to start it 2011 with first gas flowing by 2014.
