Azerbaijan, Iraq, Egypt, Turkmenistan are first potential suppliers for Nabucco: Austrian federal chancellor

"Nabucco was always designed and planned to follow a multi sourcing approach. This means that the pipeline will not be dependent on a single source," Faymann said.

He said if Iran with its important gas resources would join that group in the future depends on a variety of factors. Faymann did not clear up these factors.

The Austrian Federal Chancellor believes the Intergovernmental Agreement for Nabucco signed by Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria in Ankara on July 13 will be a very important step for all involved countries and companies both in terms of political support and legal security.

"As a new corridor for gas supply from the Caspian Region and the Middle East, Nabucco will play a very important role in contributing to energy security and the diversification of gas routes to Europe," Faymann said.

The next steps for Nabucco are the finalization of the Project Support Agreement and the detailed engineering as well as the start of the social and environmental impact assessment following EU-standards, the Federal Chancellor said.

"In parallel, the Nabucco Consortium will start to offer pipeline capacities to the markets. But the European gas traders will buy the gas and they have to decide, where to buy under the most competitive conditions," Faymann said.

/Trend News/