Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 9
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran plans to stabilize gas exports to Turkey as its northwestern neighbor has filed a complaint against Iran about unfavorable situation of importing Iranian gas, the Mehr News Agency reported.
Mehr quoted Iran's Natural Gas Storage Company's managing director Masoud Samivand as saying that Iran will extract 10 million cubic meters of gas per day from its Sarajeh gas storage facility during winter in order to stabilize gas exports.
Some 1.3 billion cubic meters of gas has been stored at the Sarajeh facility, he added.
Turkey's complaint is about uncertain condition of gas imports from Iran as well as high price of Iranian gas, Mehr quoted Iranian deputy oil minister Hamidreza Araqi as saying on Friday.
Turkey had filed a similar complaint against Iran in the past, but the international court ruled in favor of Iran, Araqi said.
However, the National Iranian Gas Company has provided documented evidence about its gas export deal with Turkey and is confident about its transparency, he explained.
The international court will issue its verdict by the next 3-4 months. Iran will be fully committed to the final verdict, he noted.
Under an agreement between Tehran and Ankara, the Islamic Republic should export up to 30 million cubic meters of gas daily to its northwestern neighbor.
In 1996, Iran and Turkey signed a 25 year agreement to supply 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey annually.
Iran plans to increase its gas transfer capacity to Turkey and European countries up to 50 million cubic meters per day.
Former Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Javad Owji said on December 30 that the country's gas exports to Turkey have hit a new record high and surpassed 31 million cubic meters (mcm).