Northern Iraq eager to join Nabucco project

[FarCenter]

Monday, June 7, 2010
BARÇIN YİNANÇ
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Northern Iraq could provide the natural gas to make the Nabucco pipeline feasible, according to a minister from the semi-autonomous region.

“We can provide 14 or 15 billion cubic meters to make the project work,” said northern Iraqi Energy Minister Ashti Hawrami.

The Nabucco pipeline project aims to transport Central Asian and Middle Eastern gas to Europe via Turkey.

Northern Iraq’s proven oil reserves amount to 45 billion barrels and natural gas reserves of between 6 and 8 trillion cubic meters, according to Hawrami, who accompanied Massoud Barzani, chief of the Kurdistan Regional Administration, to Turkey last week.

“We firmly believe in economic integration with Turkey,” Hawrami told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review over the weekend while Barzani’s delegation came to Istanbul to meet business groups.

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