BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 13. Iran and Russia are close to finalizing a gas trade agreement.
This was announced in a report published by the Iranian Oil Ministry, citing statements by Minister Mohsen Paknejad at a meeting with Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilyov.
''Iran and Russia have reached an agreement on the main provisions of the final gas trade agreement and are working to finalize it as soon as possible. Consensus has been reached on the key provisions of the agreement, and only two points remain that require further final discussions. It is expected that a final agreement on all provisions will be reached in the near future,'' the report says, citing Paknejad's remarks at the meeting.
According to the ministry, in the course of the meeting, the ministers discussed the implementation process for the agreements reached at the 19th session of the Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation between Iran and Russia, held earlier this year, and assessed progress in fulfilling the 146 points of bilateral agreements.
The Iranian minister added that during the talks, the sides examined the obstacles arising in the implementation of the agreements and decided to develop the necessary solutions and take appropriate steps to overcome them.
Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilyov also stated that an agreement had been reached between Moscow and Tehran to accelerate the removal of obstacles to cooperation between companies in the two countries. Given the current exceptional circumstances, the results of cooperation in the energy sector have been satisfactory.
''If a full agreement is reached between Iran and Russia during the negotiations, 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year will be exported from Russia in the first phase,'' Tsivilyov added.
On June 26, 2024, a document was signed between Majed Chegheni, CEO of the National Iranian Gas Company, and Alexei Miller, CEO of the Russian company Gazprom, regarding the transportation of Russian gas to Iran.
Meanwhile, Iran is considered the second-largest country in the world in terms of natural gas reserves, which amount to approximately 34 trillion cubic meters. Currently, the country has 22 active gas fields. Iran produces 1.07 billion cubic meters of high-quality natural gas daily from its fields.
