Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 16
By Rahim Zamanov - Trend:
Iran plans to delay exporting gas to Iraq next Iranian calendar year (starting on March 21, 2014).
The continuous delays in starting gas production at different phases of the South Pars Gas field have affected the country's gas exports negatively, the Tasnim News Agency reported on November 16.
Baghdad has not completed its share of the Iran-Iraq gas pipeline yet, so Tehran can not be blamed for the delay in carrying out the deal.
The managing director of Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company Alireza Gharibi said on November 6 that Tehran will start exporting natural gas to Baghdad by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2014).
"By competition of the first Iran-Iraq pipeline, Tehran will have the capacity to export 8 to 10 million cubic of gas per day to neighboring Iraq," the Mehr News Agency quoted Alireza Gharibi as saying.
"Iran will construct two pipelines to export gas to Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Basra," he explained.
"Construction of the second pipeline will start as soon as the contract is signed," Gharibi added.
He went on to note that gas pipeline of Iran's sixth cross-country will feed the mentioned two pipelines.
Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Hamidreza Araqi said on November 4 that the country plans to export 25 million cubic meters of gas daily to Iraqi city of Basra.
"The contract will be signed in two weeks," the Fars News Agency quoted Araqi as saying.
"The previous administration had already signed a contract to export gas to Baghdad's power plants," he said.
Araghi, also the managing director of National Iranian Gas Company, went on to note that Tehran will export 4 million cubic meters of gas per day to Baghdad's power plants in the first phase, and increase the figure to 25 million cubic meters in the second phase.
Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on October 30 that the country is also willing to sign deals for gas exports to Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
Iran, which sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia, has been trying to enhance its gas production by increasing foreign and domestic investments, especially in its South Pars Gas Field.