Baku, Azerbaijan, March 27
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran, Russia gas swap remains as an idea at the moment, however Tehran is prepared for that, Hamid Reza Araqi, Iran's deputy oil minister said.
Iran and Russia's Gazprom have held various talks on the issue in recent months, but no agreement has been reached so far, Araqi said, Fars news agency reported March 27.
"We have announced to Russia and Gazprom that Iran has the entire necessary infrastructure for swap gas supplies from Russia," Araqi, who heads the National Iranian Gas Company said.
"However Russia has not given us a definite answer, so the gas swap remains as an idea and it is not clear when it will be implemented," he added.
In mid-March Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that Tehran wants to cooperate with Russia in an oil and gas swap mechanism.
"Iran and Russia can have a suitable cooperation in the fields of trade and an oil and gas swap," Zanganeh said after meeting his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak in Tehran.
The two countries have been discussing the swap for several years. Russia would send oil and gas to northern Iran, where supply is scarce, and Iran in return would send oil and gas from its southern fields to Russia's customers in the Persian Gulf.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Iraqi touched upon the issue of gas swap with Turkmenistan, saying the condition is not different from Russia's.
Iran is capable of swapping gas with Turkmenistan as well, he added.