Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24
By Farhad Daneshvar – Trend:
Iran may file a complaint against Turkmenistan in the International Court of Arbitration over a recent gas dispute, a senior Iranian oil official said.
Hamid-Reza Araqi, Iranian deputy oil minister, has said that his country will definitely file the complaint in the International Court of Arbitration if Turkmenistan refuses to hold talks with Iran to resolve the issue, Mehr news agency reported.
He further pointed to the agreement on gas swap between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan through Iran and added that about six million cubic meters of gas are swapped between the two post-Soviet nations on a daily basis.
“Although Turkmenistan has stopped exporting gas to Iran, we have, so far, no plans on halting the neighboring country’s gas swap program,” he added.
Araqi further called for launching talks aimed at resolving the issue.
Turkmen Foreign Ministry said Jan. 3 that Turkmenistan limited the natural gas supply to Iran from Jan. 1 over the outstanding debts for previous natural gas sales.
