Azerbaijan Offers Iraq Gas-Pipeline Route To Europe

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov (left) speaks during a joint news conference with Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari in Baghdad on February 10.

Azerbaijan's foreign minister has said during a visit to Baghdad that his country is open to shipping Iraqi natural gas to Europe.

Elmar Mammadyarov said on February 10 that Iraqi authorities had already expressed an interest in shipping gas to Europe via Azerbaijan's pipeline network.

The European Union has been seeking to develop its Southern Gas Corridor project that envisions supplies of gas from countries in the Caspian Basin and Iraq through routes that avoid Russian territory.

Mammadyarov said the Southern Gas Corridor project was "open if Iraq is also interested to deliver their own natural gas."

For Iraqi gas to reach Azerbaijan's pipeline network, Turkish participation is needed and Turkish officials said late last year they were interested in including Iraq in the construction of the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP).

Based on reporting by AFP and Trend.az