Turkmen gas swap through Iran to Azerbaijan to double in volume: Owji

Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji says the country has reached agreements with Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan to double the amount of natural gas exchanged between the three as part of a deal reached in November.

According to Press TV, he said on Thursday that Iran, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan had almost finalized agreements for doubling the volume of gas mentioned in their swap deal.

Under the current agreement, Turkmenistan supplies 5-6 million cubic meters per day of gas to Iran’s northeastern regions while Iran supplies the same amount to Azerbaijan on its northwestern border.

“Fortunately, everything is ready for the increase (of the volume) in the gas swap agreement and it will be doubled very soon,” Owji told reporters in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, where he held talks with senior government officials and attended an energy forum.

The minister said the increase had been discussed in talks in Tehran, Baku and Ashgabat in recent months.

Owji had indicated in January that the country has the capacity and infrastructure required to increase the volume of gas swapped with Turkmenistan to 40 mcm per day or 10-15 billion cubic meters per year.

Iran’s current administrative government has hailed the gas swap operation with Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan as a major success in the field of energy diplomacy.

Experts say the deal has allowed Iran to deepen its economic ties with the two neighbors. Reports say Iranian state and private firms have signed major deals with counterparts in Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan in recent months.

Reports in the Iranian media published last week suggested that Iran is working on similar oil and gas swap arrangements with Russia, a country where energy exports have been targeted by Western sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine.

SS