Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.13
By Temkin Jafarov - Trend:
Iran is interested in investments of Azerbaijani companies, including SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) in the oil and gas fields and petrochemical industry of the country.
Iranian investors are also interested in investing in this area of the Azerbaijani economy, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh told Trend Nov.13 in Baku.
He said that Azerbaijan and Iran have cooperated in the oil and gas sector for a long time. As an example, he mentioned the participation of NICO, one of the Iranian oil companies, in the development project of the Shah Deniz gas condensate offshore field, where it owns a 10 percent stake.
"The two countries can cooperate in the development of joint oil fields in the Caspian Sea, export of gas and gas pipeline construction for transportation of gas from both countries to Europe, the injection of gas into underground storages, exchange and sales of oil products," said the minister.
During the visit, the use of underground gas storage facilities was discussed.
"The Iranian delegation will visit Baku next week in order to discuss the details of the issue with SOCAR," said the Iranian minister. "In case of obtaining the consent great opportunities for cooperation in this field between the states will be created."
Azerbaijan has two underground storage facilities - Kalmaz and Garadagh. Some $150 million have been allocated on the reconstruction of the gas storages. After the reconstruction, their power will gradually reach 5 billion cubic meters. Underground gas storage capabilities of the country today make it possible to store more than 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas in them.
Iran's need for natural gas increases in the winter months, so Tehran intends to use the gas infrastructure of Azerbaijan.