Azerbaijan, Baku, Apr.19/ Trend R.Zamanov
Iran and Switzerland have finalised a deal to export Iranian natural gas to the European country, the Iranian deputy oil minister said on Friday.
Negotiations are underway with Turkey over the transit fee, the ISNA News Agency quoted Javad Owji as saying.
Iran will start exporting seven million cubic meters of gas to Iraq as of this summer, he explained.
Iran will eventually increase the volume up to 25 million cubic meters per day, Owji added. It will transfer the gas to the border via the 6th nationwide gas pipeline, he said.
Owji, who is also the managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), went on to say that Iraq will use the gas to produce electricity in two power plants.
He said in March that Tehran wants to diversify its gas export destinations in the current Iranian calendar year which began March 21.
Iran plans to start exporting gas to neighbouring states such as Pakistan and Iraq, as well as increasing its gas export volume to Turkey, he said.
Iran currently exports 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Turkey which equals 30 million cubic meters each day.
According to Owji, once Iran's 6th nationwide gas pipeline comes on stream, the country can boost its gas exports volume to Turkey by up to 80 million cubic meters per day.
Iran plans to export gas to Europe through Turkey and also to send daily exports of four million barrels of oil products to Iraq.
The agreement was reached during Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi's last month visit to Baghdad.
Based on the agreement, Iran will export two to four million litres of oil products daily from the Bandar Abbas refinery to Iraq by sea.
Iran currently produces 550-600 million cubic meters of gas per day.
The Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi announced in January that the country plans to sign some new gas export contracts in the near future.
By the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (March 2016), Iran's gas production capacity will have reached one billion cubic meters per day, Qasemi said.
By the end of the plan, the country will also produce 5.6 million barrels of oil per day, he added.