Turkish Deputy PM: Iraqi Conflict Will Affect Nabucco Gas Supply

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan has warned that political conflict in Iraq may affect that country's supply of gas to the Nabucco pipeline.

Speaking on Saturday, Minister Babacan said that turmoil in government in Iraq may threaten Europe's energy security in the future.

"The split that exists between the central government of Iraq and the Kurdish Regional Government will become an obstacle for Iraqi gas supplies for Nabucco," the Trend news agency reports him as saying.

Iraq is expected to be one of the main supply companies in the Nabucco pipeline project and is also one of the countries from which gas will be transported through the pipeline, running from the Turkey-Iraq border.

Earlier this month, the Nabucco consortium submitted an environmental impact assessment (EIA) to the Turkish government for the 733 kilometre Sivas-Iraqi border section of the pipeline. A decision on the EIA is expected to be returned from the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation this summer.

In recent years, Turkey has sought to deepen its energy relations with Iraq but conflict, along with a very late promised supply date, in the country may hamper participation. The Iraqi government has strongly stated its interest in participating in the project but says that it could not begin supply to the pipeline until between 2015 and 2017. This would be at least two years later than Nabucco's expected date of gas supply commencement in 2013.