US Backs Southern Corridor Without Iranian Gas

The US Government has stated that it strongly support a pipeline to bring natural gas from the Caspian region to Europe.

Richard Morningstar, the U.S. special envoy for Eurasian energy said that the Obama administration "strongly supports the establishment of a new pathway, the so-called Southern Corridor, to bring natural gas to Europe, via Turkey.

"From the standpoint of U.S. policy goals, the best outcome is one that brings the most gas, soonest and most reliably, to those parts of Europe that need it most," Morningstar told a Congressional subcommittee last week.

Three pipeline consortiums; the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy (ITGI) and the Nabucco pipeline project are competing move natural gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas field to Europe, in a move that would reduce the role of Russian supplies.

Morningstar said other countries would also contribute gas volumes to including Turkmenistan and Iraq, which would be able to export gas once it met domestic needs.

However, Morningstar reiterated the United States does not want the pipeline to move gas from Iran, which is under sanctions.

Recently Thomas McCulloch, director of Nabucco consortium partner OMV AG said that Iran is the safest source for supplying Europe with gas.

During a state visit to Azerbaijan this past November, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that natural gas from Iran is available for the European community if it meets "suitable conditions."

Read the Testimony of Richard Morningstar, Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy, Before the Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs  HERE