Azerbaijan , Baku , Oct.21/ Trend F.Milad/
Turkish pipeline operator Botas has officially asked for Iran's help in the full repair process of the Iran-Turkey gas pipeline.
Iran has agreed to the request and sent a team to the explosion site on Sunday morning, the Mehr News Agency reported.
The gas flow on Iran-turkey gas pipeline was halted due to an explosion in eastern Turkey late on Thursday which also wounded 28 soldiers in a passing military vehicle, Turkish government and energy officials said.
The blast happened in the area of Eleskirt, a town in Agri province. It was not clear what caused the blast, and when the gas flow will resume, Reuters reported.
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group has claimed responsibility for repeated attacks on pipelines in Turkey.
The gas flow from Iran was halted earlier this month after an explosion in eastern Turkey and resumed a week later.
Azerbaijan raised its gas supply from its Shah Deniz fields to Turkey more than 50 percent on Saturday following a request by Turkish pipeline operator Botas after sabotage halted gas flow from Iran.
The daily flow from Shah Deniz to Turkey before the increase was 10-11 million cubic meters. BP-Azerbaijan is the operator of Shah Deniz, which produces about 25 million cubic meters of gas per day.
This follows an increase in gas supplies to Turkey from Russian group Gazprom after saboteurs bombed the gas pipeline.
During the past 3 years seven terrorist attacked were carried out on Iran-Turkey gas pipeline, halting the flow of Iranian gas into Turkey for 42 days.
The 42-days halt reduced one billion cubic meters from Iran 's total gas exports to Turkey , the Mehr News Agency reported.
Iran exports some 25 million cubic meters of gas to Turkey per day.
According the 25-year agreement between the two countries, Iran is obliged to supply Turkey with annually 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas and if either side fails to fulfill its commitment, it is liable for compensation.
Iran will have the capacity to boost gas exports to Turkey and other European countries once the 6th cross country gas pipeline come on stream, the National Iranian Gas Company's managing director said in September.
The pipeline, which is projected to extend 1,300 kilometers, will increase the capacity to transfer natural gas to Turkey to 80 million cubic meters (bcm) per day from around 30 bcm.
Daily gas production in Iran is about 600 million cubic meters, and this is projected to increase to 1.2 billion cubic meters in the future. According to the National Iranian Gas Company, the country's oil and natural gas reserves account for 10 percent and 16 percent of total world reserves, respectively.
Iran, with 155 billion barrels of recoverable oil reserves, ranks fourth worldwide, after Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Canada .
With 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, Iran has the world's second-largest natural gas reserves after Russia.