EU energy boss Maros Sefcovic said late Thursday Europe could import natural gas from ex-Soviet Turkmenistan via Iran.

EU energy boss Maros Sefcovic said late Thursday Europe could import natural gas from ex-Soviet Turkmenistan via Iran. 
  
Speaking after a meeting with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov in the capital Ashgabat, Sefcovic, vice president of the European Commission for Energy Union, also said he expected that imports of Turkmen gas via a pipeline built under the Caspian sea could begin as soon as 2019.
  
Sefcovic said the two had discussed the "possibility of building a pipeline through the Caspian as well as through Iran, since diplomatic relations with Iran are developing positively". "The EU hopes that negotiations between the big six and Iran conclude successfully," he added, speaking in comments aired on Turkmen state television late on Thursday night.
  
"The European Union expects natural gas supplies from the Caspian region to Europe to begin in 2019-2020," Sefcovic said. He added that environmental risks connected to the proposed pipeline could be mitigated.