"There are a lot of other producers in the Middle East, but all are more or less covered by projects already agreed upon," PressZoom quoted Dieter Pfaff, senior VP for Gas Supply Policy Division of E.ON Ruhrgas (German gas supplier) as saying. E.ON Ruhrgas is a unit of E.ON AG.

Iran enjoys 15% of proven recoverable gas reserves in the world -- 2nd largest in the world, next only to Russia. However, the country still has not developed an LNG industry, hence a potential key supplier for LNG companies.

"There is a tight supply market for those who want to get LNG supply for 2010 onwards," said Pfaff. There"re merely three suppliers, namely Algeria, Russia, and Norway, near to Europe that can produce additional volumes. This implies that Europe ought to rely on other nations for securing supplies of LNG to meet its energy demand. Therefore, a largely unexploited supplier such as Iran is indispensable for the region.

Pfaff further added that ensuring stable rapport between the producers of LNG and countries that rely on its import is of utmost importance -- laying the foundation of this long-term contract. "Long-term contracts are a key element for making investment possible," and will remain the backbone of energy security for Europe.

According to a report compiled by the industry research firm RNCOS -- “European LNG Market Analysis”, “With restricted reserves of gas except Russia, LNG imports have become imperative to maintain gas supplies in the European region. Spain remained the largest importer of liquefied natural gas in 2005, followed by France. It"s expected that the demand for LNG in Europe will touch a mark of 79-98 million tons by 2020.”

This research report on “European LNG Market Analysis” helps clients in analyzing the opportunities critical to the growth of the LNG Industry in Europe. Key issues and facts analyzed in this report include: opportunity areas for the players in LNG industry and challenges they will face in future to survive in the European LNG industry, factors leading to success in the European LNG Industry, and LNG Infrastructure developments in the European LNG industry.