Baku, Azerbaijan, May 8
By Emil Ilgar – Trend:
Iran has prepared documents to sue Turkmenistan for cutting gas export to Iran, the Deputy Petroleum Minister and Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Hamidreza Araghi said May 8.
According to him, Iran would sue Turkmenistan for three disputes: gas price, damage from sudden gas export cut to Iran as well as the quality of gas.
Araghi said that the documents would be submitted to The International Criminal Court (ICC) and Turkmenistan has already been informed about the issue.
Turkmenistan has halted supplying gas to Iran since January 1 due to long-delayed claimed $2 billion debt.
Turkmenistan has been exporting gas to Iran under a 1997 agreement. During 2015, Turkmenistan doubled gas export to Iran to 9 billion cubic meters, but it again halved that in 2016 and stopped gas delivery on January 1, 2017.
Araghi said that Turkmenistan should compensate the damage on Iran for cutting gas in winter.
“If Turkmengaz and NIGC reach a common point in gas dispute, the suit won't follow,” he added.
According to him, currently Iran swaps Turkmen gas to Azerbaijan and in case, the dispute between Tehran and Ashgabat is resolved, Iran can resume importing the Turkmen gas.
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