LONDON (IRNA) -- Iran is among an abundance of alternative suppliers of gas for the European Union, according to Professor Peter Odell from Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

The Professor Emeritus of International Energy Studies criticized the 'almost alarmist view' that by 2015, Europe's required new suppliers of gas will be difficult to define.

In a letter to the Financial Times Tuesday, he said that it was an 'extravagant claim' about future Russian dominance of the EU gas market.

There was an abundance of suppliers, including from 'pipelined gas originating from a variety of sources -- including the Caspian basin, Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East', Odell said.

There were also pipelines from three or more North African countries -- plus even others south of the Sahara, beginning with Nigeria, the British professor said.

He added that that there were further alternatives to the imports of much-expanded maritime supplies of liquefied natural gas from South America, Africa and the Middle East.

Odell, who has been studying and analyzing the gas industry since the 1960s, also said there was potential availability of up to 380m cubic meters of indigenous supplies in the next decade.

His convictions are that gas is the fuel of the future and that a fully-integrated gas transport network should be in place within Europe by 2020.