Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 5
By Dalga Khatinoglu - Trend:
Turkey has failed to reach its objective in its complaint against Iran for over-charging for gas supply, Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said, Shana news agency reported.
Zanganeh said Turkey's first complaint was about Iran not being stable in its gas supplies, thus asking for a 25-percent reduction in price. The second complaint from Turkey was that Iran over-charges for its gas, so Turkey wanted a 37.5-percent reduction in price.
The first complaint of Turkey about instability of gas exports was ruled in favor of Iran," Zanganeh said. "The second complaint had Iran to pay 13-15 percent."
Zanganeh did not reveal the sum Iran will have to pay due to confidentiality, but said it was negotiable.
The managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company, Hamid-Reza Araqi, said on February 2 that the International Court of Arbitration court has ruled against Iran in its gas dispute with Turkey, voting Iran should pay some $1bn in compensation for over-charging.
Based on the ruling, Iran must reduce the price of gas it exported to Turkey between 2011 and 2015 by 10-15 percent.
Meanwhile, Zanganeh said Turkey cannot put forward any requests by the next couple of years on reducing gas price or changing gas export formula.
"In my opinion, the ruling is acceptable considering that Turkey had initially requested Iran to reduce gas price by 40 percent," he said.
Iran must supply Turkey with a about 10 billion cubic meters per year under a 25-year deal signed in 1996. Last year, Iran exported 9.6 bcm to Turkey.
Iran had proposed doubling exports of its natural gas for a discounted price last year, but Ankara rejected the offer. Last year Iran was its most costly gas supplier.