Iran begins work on new export gas pipeline

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Iran begins work on new export gas pipeline​

TEHRAN, Iran

Iran's state TV says the country has begun construction of a 110 million cubic meter per day gas export pipeline to Europe.

The report Monday said the $1.58 billion (euros1.3 billion) pipeline would bring gas to Turkey, with the aim of distribution to Europe. The line, which originates in the southern Iranian town of Assalouyeh and extends to Bazargan, near the Turkish border is slated to be completed within three years.

The project reflects Iran's attempt to expand its gas exports after it was left out of the U.S.-backed Nabucco pipeline project that supply gas from the Caspian Sea region to Europe while avoiding Russia.

Iran had offered to help Europe with gas supplies when a Russian-Ukranian dispute over gas pricing left much of the continent in the cold.

 

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Tehran Aims at a Gas Empire​

Tehran is trying to take a leaf out of Moscow’s playbook and build a regional gas empire of its own, and it could soon be sending gas to Europe and Pakistan. Key to Iran’s expansion is the undermining of the EU and U.S. backed Nabucco pipeline, conceived to bring Central Asian gas via the Caucasus and Turkey to Europe, bypassing Russia. But the inconvenient truth is that no major gas-producing country has actually signed up for the pipeline. Meanwhile, Russia has bought 7 billion of the estimated 8 billion cubic meters of gas at Nabucco’s main planned source, Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas field. And as of last week, the Turkmens have one reason fewer to participate in Nabucco: they just opened a new gas pipeline to Iran. Naturally, this is not exactly what Washington had in mind when it wanted to explore alternate routes for gas to get to Europe. It seems the problem-plagued Nabucco, rather than isolating Russia, is fast becoming a way for Iran to make itself Europe’s indispensable energy supplier.

The West can’t do much about the issue. The U.S. says it won’t support Nabucco if Iran is involved, but it isn’t putting up any hard cash to push for the pipeline’s completion. European gas consumption may have dipped during the recession, but projections say that annual gas demand will rise from the current 500 billion cubic meters to 815 billion by 2030, of which Nabucco is expected to supply 31 billion. That means the EU can’t afford to be fussy about where it gets its gas—even if it means swapping one unreliable gas supplier, Russia, for the even less predictable Iran.


Europe Could Soon Be Dependent On Iran For Gas - Newsweek

 

[Fighter488]

Interesting projects in pipeline. Keep in mind that India is still interested in Iranian gas. May be an under-sea link between India and Iran, by passing Pakistan, would become a reality soon. That will be another worry for US.

So overall Iranians are playing a nice game.