Baku, Azerbaijan, May 17
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran has hold negotiations with Afghanistan on exporting natural gas to the neighboring country, Azizullah Ramazani, chairman of Iranian National Gas Company for International Affairs said.
Afghanistan's market is not ready for gas import and it is the first time that they want to enter this field, Ramazani said.
He further added that no result was achieved from the negotiations so far.
They have some doubts on the issue, however Iran will continue the talks till reaching the goal, Ramazani said, the oil ministry's official SHANA news agency reported May 17.
Afghanistan lacks the infrastructure for importing and distributing natural gas, the Iranian official added.
Earlier, Hamid Reza Araqi, the managing director of National Iranian Gas Company said that the Afghan market has high potential for Iranian gas and that country can become a de facto customer.
Araqi added that Iran is also ready to establish infrastructure for this purpose.
Iran holds 33.8 trillion cubic meters of proven natural gas reserve- or 18.2 percent of the world's total proven reserves.
The Islamic Republic has two gas trade deals with Iraq, one agreement with Pakistan and one memorandum of understanding with Oman that add up to a total of 120 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) of natural gas exported to these countries.
Tehran is evaluating other markets like the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as well as Europe.
Earlier Alireza Kameli, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Exports Company (NIGC) said that the country will capitalize on growing production from South Pars to add 150 mcm of gas per day to its export capacity in coming years, adding Iran could export gas to Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
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