A senior Iranian energy official said the Nabucco natural gas pipeline is not economically logical if does not also transport gas from Iran, the daily Resalat newspaper reports Tuesday.
"Construction of this 3,300 kilometer, roughly $8 billion pipeline will be logical if Iran is providing it gas," Resalat quotes National Iranian Oil Co. deputy director for investment affairs, Hojatollah Ghanimifard as saying, citing the semi-official Mehr News Agency.
The Nabucco pipeline aims to pipe 31 billion cubic meters a year of gas from the Caspian region, the Middle East and Egypt to Europe through Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Austria.
The official intergovernmental signing ceremony of the pipeline was held in Istambul Monday.