UPI: Nabucco 'preferable,' says Morningstar

Washington supports the planned Nabucco natural gas pipeline for Europe provided it's a commercially viable project, the U.S. envoy for Eurasian energy said.

Nabucco is up against the smaller Interconnector Turkey-Greece and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline projects included as part of the so-called Southern Corridor. Nabucco is the most ambitious and there's not enough natural gas available from Azerbaijan to fill its planned yearly capacity.

Nabucco authorities said it would look to feeder lines, notably from Iraq, to provide additional capacity to the planned pipeline.

Richard Morningstar, U.S. special envoy for Eurasian energy, told the Interfax news agency that, given political turmoil in Iraq, it could be a number of years before natural gas exports are possible.  HERE