Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 3
By Emil Ilgar – Trend:
Iran says importing gas from Turkmenistan is no longer a necessity and urgency.
Managing Director of National Iranian Gas Company Hamidreza Araqi said Oct. 3 that Iran has recently told Turkmenistan that importing gas is no longer a necessity and urgency, SHANA news agency reported Oct. 3.
“We will seriously follow up gas swap deals and we are signing several deals in this regard,” he said.
Iran imported 9 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas in 2015, twice as much as in the previous year.
Recently, Iran offered Turkmenistan to swap gas to Turkey or Pakistan markets, but Turkmenistan has not responded yet.
Iran is planning to increase gas output by 90 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) to 530 mcm/d by March 2017. Five compressors will also be commenced in this period.
The north-eastern part of Iran has been dependent upon imports of Turkmen gas so far.
Iran has defined a project for building a cross country pippeline (IGAT 11) worth $4.3 billion mainly after Turkmenistan cut gas exports to Iran in winters of 2007 and 2009 and due to differences in prices and debts of the country.
Araqi said that necessary guarantees will be provided for capital return along with profit two years after inaugurating the project.
Iran’s north-eastern regions consume about 20 billion cubic meters per year (bcm/y) of gas.
