Gas rival of Russia

Iran is ready to compete with Russia for gas supplies to Europe. If the United States and Europe lift sanctions from it, it will be able to export 30-35 billion cubic meters after 2020.

Iran is willing to supply gas to Europe via Nabucco, said the Iranian Deputy Minister of Oil and Gas, Ali Majedi. Recently, he said, Iran was visited by delegations of the two European countries that are interested in the import of Iranian gas and discussed the routes of its delivery. They discussed the transportation through Turkey, Iraq, Syria, the Caucasus and the Black Sea, but the Turkish route was preferred, said Majedi. In addition, there is a potential for export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe, he added.

We couldn’t contact a representative of the Iranian Ministry of Oil and Gas.

The project of the Nabucco gas pipeline appeared in the early 2000s. Initially it was planned to use it to supply Iranian gas to Europe via Turkey. But then the United States and Europe imposed sanctions on Iran because of its nuclear program, and Nabucco switched to the supply of Azerbaijani gas from the Shah Deniz field. Meanwhile, Turkey and Azerbaijan, together with a consortium of Shah-Deniz, led by BP, decided to construct its own TANAP pipeline via Turkey to Bulgaria. The Nabucco project was cut off and was seen as a European continuation of TANAP from Bulgaria to Austria. But another project appeared in Europe, which was conceived as a continuation of TANA - the TAP gas pipeline through Greece to southern Italy. And just tt was chosen by the Shah Deniz consortium, which rejected Nabucco.