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The Essen, Germany-based company will provide assistance with the region’s gas network as well as training local citizens, according to a statement on the Kurdistan government’s website.

“This is a major step forward in our planning,” said Kurdish Prime Minister Barham Salih. “RWE will bring the know- how and insights of one of Europe’s most important gas- distribution companies to Kurdistan.”

Gas from the region is expected to be exported via the Nabucco pipeline to European consumer markets, the statement said.

A statement issued by RWE in Germany quoted Iraqi Kurdistan's natural resources minister Ashti Hawrami as saying that up to 20 billion cubic metres of gas a year could be fed into the pipe to bring gas to Turkey and Europe.

At the beginning of the week Nabucco's Steering Committee announced that its pipeline project has modified its gas supply concept to include two feeder pipelines leading to Turkey – one from Georgia and one from Iraq.

“The planned route offers a wide range of supply sources for the Nabucco gas pipeline, which will receive gas from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iraq,” says the announcement.

The Nabucco Consortium announced it has already ordered the engineering works for the two lines.

A third line from Iran to Turkey is not planned due to the "political situation."

The shareholders in Nabucco are Botas (Turkey), Bulgarian Energy Holding (Bulgaria), MOL (Hungary), OMV (Austria), RWE (Germany), Transgaz (Romania), each holding an equal share of 16.67%.

The European Union puts high hopes in Nabucco for effecting the much-vaunted European South Energy Corridor in a bid to ensure the security of gas deliveries to Europe and decrease dependence on Russia.

It is seen as a rival to the South Stream gas pipeline project sponsored by Russia, to which Bulgaria is a also a party.

Tags: gas pipeline, pipeline, Georgia, Russia, Iran, Turkmenistan, azerbaijan, Iraq, Georgia, South stream, Nabucco, Russian gas, natural gas, turkey