Tehran, Iran, Apr. 14
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Iran's oil minister says that the country has offered Turkey to double gas import from Iran, but Ankara rejected the offer.
Iran is selling about 27 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) of natural gas to Turkey, but the sides dispute the quality-quantity and price of natural gas.
Turkey filed two complaints with the International Court of Arbitration accusing Iran of overcharging as well as citing the low quality and quantity of delivered gas. Minister Taner Yıldız said earlier that the court is set to issue its final verdict on the dispute in May.
Iran increased gas deliveries to Turkey by one billion cubic meters of gas per annum (bcm/a) during last year. Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan export about 10 bcm/a, 27 bcm/a and 6.6 bcm/a to Turkey respectively. Turkey purchases 1000 cubic meters of Iranian gas at $490, which is much higher than Russian gas (at $425) and Azerbaijani gas (at $335).
Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that the international court verdict about Turkey's claim on the gas quality-quantity was in favor of Iran, but the release of the second verdict is expected in two months, Shana reported on April 14.
Regarding Turkey's demand of at discount, Zanganeh said that Iran offered to increase Iranian gas imports to Turkey by 100 percent to get the discount, but Ankara rejected this proposal last week during President Rejeb Tayyib Erdogan's visit to Tehran.
Erdogan visited Tehran, heading a delegation including the Natural Resources and Energy Minister Taner Yildiz last week.
Edited by CN