Iraq has offered to supply enough gas to fill half the capacity of the proposed Nabucco pipeline, giving the project a boost even as heads of government met to sign a historic agreement approving the plan.
The offer from Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, to supply 15bn cubic metres of gas a year by 2015 helps address the greatest obstacle to the 3,300km pipeline from eastern Turkey to Austria: the prospect of there not being enough gas to fill it.
