Iran plans gas link to Europe

Iran plans to build a Persian pipeline for shipping its natural gas to Europe that would be independent of the EU-backed Nabucco project, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying yesterday.

Iran, which has the world's second-largest gas reserves, after Russia, had previously suggested it could hook up to the planned Nabucco pipeline that is meant to bring Central Asian gas to Europe, bypassing Russia and reducing EU dependence on Moscow for energy.

But analysts have said it was doubtful the 27-nation EU would support such a move, as the Islamic Republic is under UN and US sanctions over its disputed nuclear programme. The sanctions have slowed Tehran's gas export plans.

"We have nothing to do with the Nabucco pipeline and since the EU announced... it does not need Iran's gas we have designed a new plan independent of Nabucco," Akbar Torkan, head of Oil Ministry planning, told the ministry's website Shana.