The National Iranian Gas Exports Company and Turkey have signed an agreement to establish a joint company to ship up to 35 Bcm a year of Iranian gas by pipeline to Europe, according to the Iranian oil ministry news agency Shana. The report quoted Reza Kasaizadeh, managing director of NIGEC, as saying that under the agreement, the Iranian firm would have a 50% stake in the proposed new company, which would then be transferred to private sector investors. The gas will be delivered at the border point of Bazargan, the report said.rnTurkey and Iran said in July 2007 that they had signed a memorandum of understanding concerning the transit of Iranian gas to Europe via Turkey through the planned Nabucco pipeline, as well as the development of three phases of Iran's giant South Pars gas field by Turkish state-owned upstream operator TPAO.rnHowever, Austria's OMV, which is leading the Nabucco consortium, has said that Iran would only be considered for the project in a healthy political environment. The consortium has come under political pressure not to take Iranian gas owing to US, EU and UN sanctions against the country over its nuclear program.
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