Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16
By Farhad Daneshvar - Trend:
Iran is considering a plan to export 200 million cubic meters of gas to Georgia in a course of seven months.
Alireza Kameli, the head of the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC), has said that the Georgian governmental and private sectors are keen to import gas from Iran, Shana news agency reported Feb. 16.
Saying that serious talks on the gas issue were held with Georgians, Kameli expressed hope that a deal for delivering Iran's gas to Georgia would be finalized soon.
He also forecasted that Iran would kick off gas supply to Georgia by late March.
Kameli added that Georgia needs to get the required permissions from Yerevan for transferring gas from Iran through Armenia.
He further said that Tehran and Tbilisi would consider signing a long-term deal, if they find the short-term gas deal economically justified.
A major part of Iran's gas output is consumed domestically, while most of liquid fuels, which used to be consumed at industrial units and power plants, are now available for export.
The country plans to increase gas production to 1.1 billion cubic meters per day by 2018.