ANKARA, Turkey, June 8 (UPI) -- The Kurdish region of Iraq has natural gas available to help facilitate the Nabucco gas pipeline for Europe, leaders from Iraqi Kurdistan said in Ankara.
Kurdish leaders are wrapping up a historic visit to Turkey this week to discuss bilateral trade and security issues.
Kurdish leaders said during their meetings that both sides looked forward to developing a strategic cooperation on energy.
Ashti Hawrami, the energy minister for the Kurdistan Regional Government, said his region could help make Nabucco a reality, Turkish daily newspaper Hurriyet reports.
"We can provide 490 (billion) or 520 billion cubic feet (of natural gas per year) to make the project work," he said.
Hawrami said the Kurdish provinces of Iraq hold as much as 280 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Europe is pressing for the Nabucco pipeline to break the Russian grip on the regional energy sector. The proposed 2,500-mile pipeline will run from Azerbaijan to Austria via Turkey and would carry 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas per year to Europe.
Nabucco consortium members said a gas deal signed Monday by Turkey and Azerbaijan was a "step in the right direction" for the project.
Energy analysts predict that Europe could face natural gas shortages as early as 2015. Nabucco is expected to start gas deliveries in 2014.
