Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 10 / Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/
Iran is ready to increase gas exports to Turkey, Press-secretary of Iran's National Gas Company, Majid Boujarzadeh said, Mehr reported.
Currently Iran daily exports around 30 mln cbm of natural gas to Turkey, being world's second in natural gas reserves after Russia with available gas reserves estimated at over 33 trillion cubic meters.
In addition to exporting gas to Turkey, Armenia, and Pakistan, the Islamic republic is currently negotiating gas exports to Iraq.
Boujarzadeh said Turkish company BOTAS contacted Iranian National Gas Company on the gas matter, and Iranian officials are working on this issue. He underlined that Iran is ready to export more gas to Turkey, if it is technically able to receive bigger amounts.
Tehran and Ankara signed a 25-year gas deal in August 1996 according to which Iran will export an annual amount of 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey.
Last month, Turkey applied for arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce in Switzerland in a dispute over gas prices with Iran.
The ICC had resolved a previous contractual dispute between the two neighbours in 2009, when it awarded Turkey $800 million compensation related to gas purchases from Iran.
The dispute is unrelated to the growing international pressure Iran is facing over its nuclear program. The European Union imposed a ban on imports of oil from Iran last month.