Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Iran is poised to compete with Japan and Singapore to achieve gas hub status, a senior Iranian gas official said.
The Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) Sayid Mohammad Hossein Adeli has said that Iran is capable of becoming a gas hub.
"If we manage to buy, sell and swap gas and increase the volume of our trade we can turn into a gas hub and eventually we will be capable of determining gas prices at least in the region," Tasnim news agency quoted him as saying Nov 24.
Last week Iran called on Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkmenistan to swap gas with Iran. Iran says it's ready to swap Caspian states' gas with its Persian Gulf LNG.
Iran exports gas to Turkey 8.9 billion cubic meters per annum (BCMA), swaps gas with Azerbaijan and barters gas with Armenian power.
Iran also has deals with Iraq to export 18.25 BCMA of gas to this country by 2017. Iran also signed deals with Pakistan and Oman to export 9 BCMA and 10 BCMA of gas respectively.
Speaking about climate change, the most important message that the summit conveyed was that gas is the cleanest fossil fuel that can be used for the sustainable development of energy, he said.
The third summit of the leaders of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum wrapped up on Nov.23 in Tehran.
Speaking about the upcoming Cop21 conference to be held in Paris next week which aims to achieve an international agreement on issues and policies related to climate change, Adeli added that the GECF will send a message to the Cop21 conference announcing the forum's readiness to cooperate in this regard.
He highlighted the importance of the recent summit and said that leaders of state were interested in attending the event in Tehran as sanctions against Iran are expected to be eased.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro, Nigerian President Muhammad Buhari, President of Iraq Fuad Masoum , Bolivian president Evo Morales, President of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Mbasogo and Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal attended the summit.
The revenue of oil and gas exporting countries has fallen so exporters need to come up with new mechanisms for determining prices, he said.
Elaborating on the slump in oil and gas prices the secretary general said that the sharp decline was the result of a global supply glut.
Adeli criticized the west for imposing sanctions on some gas exporting countries and said the forum condemns unilateral moves and imposing sanctions against any of its members.
Tehran is planning to increase its gas production by one billion cubic meters per day, he said.