Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.24 /Trend, A.Yusifzade /
Iran is prepared for increasing natural gas exports to Turkey from 10 to 15 million cubic meters per day given extreme cold in Europe, Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Javad Oji was quoted by Mehr as saying.
"Iran's natural gas exports to neighboring Turkey has increased by 10 up to 11 million cubic meters per day and averaged to more than 30 million cubic meters daily since early 2010", Oji said.
Iran has been recently supplying Turkey with 31, 5 million cubic meters of gas per day, and it can be increased if requested, Oji stated.
The contract on gas export to Turkey was signed in 1996 with Turkish state-run pipeline operator, Botas. According to the terms of the contract, the National Iranian Gas Company is obliged to deliver 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually for 25 years.
Iran is Turkey's second-biggest supplier of natural gas after Russia. Iran's gas exports to Turkey in 2009 amounted to roughly $7 billion. A half of Turkish power plants use natural gas to generate energy.
Iran sits on the world's second-largest natural gas reserves after Russia. It has long sought to promote itself as a transit route for oil and gas from Central Asian countries.