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Iran to become major oil-gas exporter to Europe, yet not overnight

Oil&Gas Materials 15 May 2015 12:25 (UTC +04:00)
Iran is likely and indeed certain to be a major oil and gas exporter to Europe, but it will not happen overnight, it will take some time, U.S. expert on Near East and South Asia believes.
Iran to become major oil-gas exporter to Europe, yet not overnight

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 15

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

Iran is likely and indeed certain to be a major oil and gas exporter to Europe, but it will not happen overnight, it will take some time, U.S. expert on Near East and South Asia believes.

This will benefit Azerbaijan and other Caspian states, professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. National Defense University's Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Study Gawdat Bahgat told Trend.

Europe needs to diversify its energy mix and reduce dependency on Russia, he said.

Bahgat noted that Europe and Iran have already started negotiating on energy cooperation - representatives from European oil companies have visited Iran.

Bahgat believes that Iran and P5+1 will reach an agreement on the nuclear program until the deadline, since the both parties are interested in it.

He noted that US President Barak Obama wants to make this agreement his legacy and the Iranians want sanctions lifted. Both sides have invested huge political capital in the negotiations, according to Bahgat.

"There are media reports that the final negotiations are going well. I do believe they will reach agreement by July 1 with very hard negotiations in the last few days and hours," the expert said.

Bahgat expects that Iran will succeed in breaking the sanction regime. He noted that sanctions are "make it or break it" issue for Iranians, this is why they came to the negotiation table.

"The UN and the EU and some US sanctions will be lifted in a relatively short period of time," he said.

Iran and the P5+1, which includes the US, France, the UK, Russia, China plus Germany, should conclude a final nuclear accord by June 30. The parties reached a framework agreement in early April.

Edited by S.I.

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova

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