Azerbaijan, Baku, Sep.29/ Trend F.Milad/
Construction of the pipeline, which aims to transfer Iranian natural gas to Iraq, is underway, and the exports will probably start by the next July, National Iranian Gas Company's Managing Director Javad Owji said.
The Iranian section of the pipeline is completed by 25 percent, he said, adding that construction operations are also underway in Iraq, the Mehr News Agency reported.
Some $450 million is required to build the pipeline, through which around 25 million cubic meters of gas will be transferred to Iraq per day.
In June, Owji said that the talks with Iraqi officials in Baghdad resulted in agreements between the countries to move ahead with a natural gas pipeline, the Fars News Agency reported.
"Iraqi officials expressed interest in using Iranian contractors to build the 167-mile section of pipeline planned for the Iraqi side of the project," Owji noted, Fars adds.
"Iran could supply as much as 880 million cubic meters of natural gas to Iraq to help fuel two power plants," Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said.
Iran, with 155 billion barrels of recoverable oil reserves, ranks fourth worldwide, after Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Canada.
With 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, Iran has the world's second-largest natural gas reserves after Russia.