Baku, Azerbaijan, June 28
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran and Turkmenistan have finalized negotiations on the $2.5 billion worth of projects on barter of gas for goods and services, says Mohammad Taghi Amanpour, advisor to the oil minister of Iran on exports of equipment and technical services.
Amanpour said the parties had so far signed $1.2 billion worth of contracts on the issue, SHANA news agency reported June 28.
“Iran and Turkmenistan have agreed on a $30-billion economic proposal, based on which Iran will export goods, technical and engineering services in exchange for Turkmenistan’s natural gas for a 10-year period,” added Amanpour.
The proposal envisages exporting engineering and technical services in lieu of the natural gas Iran imports annually from its northern neighbor.
The proposal also prepares grounds for widespread activity of the Iranian private firms in Turkmen market.
Currently, over 150 Iranian companies are active in Turkmenistan, according to Amanpour.
“Iran’s oil ministry has so far paid $600 million for Iranian firms in exchange for export of goods and engineering services to Turkmenistan,” he said.
Iran has been purchasing natural gas from Turkmenistan in the past 20 years, the annual value of which stands at $2-3 billion.
The Islamic Republic imported 7.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Turkmenistan in 2015, according to the BP.