Azerbaijan, Baku, Mar.10/ Trend F.Milad
Iran will start exporting gas to Iraq by the end of the Iranian month of Khordad (June 20), the Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said on Sunday.
Tehran, Baghdad and Damascus will start gas negotiation in Tehran in near future, the ISNA News Agency quoted Qasemi as saying.
Iran plans to export gas to Syria through Iraq.
Qasemi who is currently in Iraq, made the remarks after his meeting with Iraq's energy minister.
Deputy Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owj announced in February that Tehran and Baghdad have inked a gas contract. Based on the signed contract, Iran will daily export 20 million cubic meters of gas to Iraq, the Mehr News Agency quoted Javad Owji as saying.
Iran will eventually increase the volume up to 25 million cubic meters per day, Owji added.
Iran will transfer the gas to the border via 6th nationwide gas pipeline, he said. Owji, also the managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), went on to note that Iraq will use the gas to produce electricity in two power plants.
Iran currently produces 550-600 million cubic meters of gas per day.
The Iranian oil minister announced last month that Iran plans to sign some new gas export contracts in near future. By the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (March 2016), Iran's gas production capacity would reach one billion cubic meters per day, Rostam Qasemi said.
"By the end of the plan, the country will also produce 5.6 million barrels of oil per day," he added.
