The Iranian president and his Turkmen counterpart have talked about the former Soviet country's gas exports to the Islamic Republic as Ashgabat says it is ready to up energy transfers to Iran, Press TV reported.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov discussed Turkmenistan's gas exports in a telephone conversation on Wednesday, Fars news agency reported.
The talks come shortly after Turkmenistan's Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov hailed Ashgabat-Tehran relations as "very constructive" and "at a high level," and expressed his country's willingness to increase natural gas exports to Iran.
Last year, the second phase of a nationwide north and northeastern pipeline was launched at Shahid Hasheminejad Oil Refinery in the Sarakhs Special Economic Zone, in a ceremony also attended by Ahmadinejad and Berdymukhammedov.
The second phase of the pipeline -- 380 kilometers (236 miles) long with a diameter of 48 inches -- extends from Miyami to Sang Bast and has a capacity of transporting 58 million cubic meters of gas per day, according to Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Javad Oji.
The second phase of the second Iran-Turkmenistan pipeline is 120 kilometers long and runs from Shahid Hasheminejad Refinery to Sang Bast with a diameter of 48 inches, he said in November.
Iran's north-northeast gas pipeline spreads a total of 1059 kilometers (658 miles), includes two major projects; the one starts from central region of Parchin and terminates at northern region of Sang Bast, and the second one that transfers Turkmenistan's gas to Iran runs between the border region of Sarakhs and Sang Bast.
The project massive gas project, with a total investment of 1.200 billion dollars, will boost Iran's capacity to export gas from northwestern parts of the country to Europe and will meet rising gas demands from the northeast of country.