Tehran, Ashgabat discuss energy ties

Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.27/ Trend G.Mehdi/

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi and Turkmen Vice-President for Oil and Gas Affairs Khoje Muhamed Muhamedov met in Ashgabat on Tuesday, discussing ties in different fields of energy.

Increasing exports of natural gas from Turkmenistan to Iran and supplying Iranian-made equipment for Turkmen oil and gas sector were focused in the meeting, according to the Shana News Agency.

National Iranian Gas Company's Managing Director Javad Owji told Shana that the two sides reached agreement on transiting Turkmen gas via Iran to Turkey and Armenia.

Previously, Owji said that in the last six months, Iran imported 4-5 million cubic meters of gas per day from Turkmenistan on the average, "and given the outcome of negotiations between the two countries it is expected the volume of supplies will increase up to 40 million cubic meters of gas after two or three weeks".

Since 1995, Turkmenistan has been transporting natural gas to Iran, after Korpedje-Gurtguyu gas pipeline which originates from the western fields of the country was commissioned. The potential to increase capacity is about 14 billion cubic meters of gas a year.

Since the end of December 2009 the neighboring countries have opened additional capacity.
The Dovletabad-Sarahs gas pipeline with a capacity of up to six billion cubic meters per year was constructed from the Iranian border to the east of Turkmenistan.

There is potential to double the capacity of the pipeline. The main buyer of Turkmen gas is the National Iranian Gas Export Company.

Earlier gas supply via the Artyk-Lyutfabad pipeline was suspended a few days ago at the request of the Iranian side due to the need for repair work on their territory.

After the repair work was completed, gas supplies were resumed.