Iran likely Nabucco supplier

VIENNA, June 23 (UPI) -- Iran may supply natural gas from its South Pars field to the proposed Nabucco pipeline over U.S. objections, a corporate official said Monday.

U.S. officials in Moscow said recently a decision to transport Iranian natural gas through the planned 2,050-mile pipeline "would not be something we could support."

In an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, however, the managing director of the Austrian Nabucco Gas Pipeline International, Reinhard Mitschek, said the pipeline would transfer natural gas from any market with adequate reserves.

"One of the (aspects of the project) is the multisourcing approach," he said. "So we expect gas from Azerbaijan, from Turkmenistan, from Kazakhstan, from Iran, from Iraq, from Egypt, from Russia."

Mitschek said with European energy demands expected to double in the coming years and with supply concerns from markets in Central Asia, the South Pars field, considered the largest natural gas field in the world, makes Iran a likely supplier.

"We know that Iran would like to improve and increase transport capacity in Iran from the south to the north, from the South Pars fields to Tehran and also to the Turkish border. So I could imagine that Iran will offer natural gas for export to Europe to interested buyers," he said.