Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 25
By Fatih Karimov- Trend:
The first joint coordination meeting between National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) and the Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom was held in Tehran Dec. 23.
Alexander Medvedev, Gazprom's deputy chief executive, who is heading a 25-member delegation to Tehran, met with Hamid Reza Araqi, managing-director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) to discuss the mutual cooperation capacities, the oil ministry's official SHANA news agency reported.
Enjoying huge gas reserves, both Iran and Russia can follow joint purposes in terms of supplying gas to the world, Araqi said.
The NIGC and Gazprom can cooperate and exchange experience in various fields including construction of gas pipelines, gas storage, gas compressor stations and CNG as well as the construction of gas refineries.
Medvedev, for his turn, praised Iran's decision for offering new model of oil and gas contracts called IPC (Iran's Petroleum Contracts), which was introduced during a two-day conference last month aimed at luring foreign investment to develop the country's ageing petroleum industry.
He also announced that Gazprom is ready to transfer its experiences to Iran in various gas sectors.
Gazprom is interested in signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) based on initial agreements between the two companies, Medvedev said, forecasting that the document will be signed in next year.
Gazprom and the NIGC plan to discuss grounds for agreements including engineering, implementation, operations, trade and research, according to Azizollah Ramazani, the NIGC manager for International Affairs.
The two parties will hold several rounds of talks to review cooperation areas under five committees, Ramazani said.
Islamic Republic possesses the world's largest proven natural gas reserves, at 34 trillion cubic meters, or 18 percent of the world's total proven reserves.