Russian oil firm, Rosneft, will invest approximately $1 billion to develop natural gas pipelines in areas under the authority of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), sources told Reuters.

The new pipeline is meant to facilitate gas exports from the KRG to European and Turkish markets, Reuters reports.

The planned pipeline will have the capacity to transfer up to 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year, according to RT. The funds will be provided under the Build-Own-Operate-Transfer Arrangement (BOOT), allowing Rosneft to recover its capital through pipeline-transit tariffs.

Natural gas exports through the pipeline are supposed to begin in 2020, RT reports.

Export volumes could rise to approximately 6% of Europe’s demand for natural gas, according to Reuters.

The KRG is a autonomous region in northern Iraq.