BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 14. Iran welcomes Turkmenistan's proposal to increase gas swaps to Azerbaijan and other neighboring countries through Iran, Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji told reporters, Trend reports citing Shana News Agency.
He made the remark after a meeting with Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan Shakhym Abdrakhmanov in Tehran on June 14.
According to Owji, Iran has the necessary infrastructure and gas network to increase gas swaps.
Owji said the during the meeting, talks were also held regarding the debts related to Iran's gas imports from Turkmenistan. Since Iran has been exporting gas to Iraq, and Iraq has its own debts to Iran, it will pay off the undisclosed sum to Turkmenistan.
The scheme will allegedly close both Iran's debts to Turkmenistan and Iraq's debt to Iran, although the debts aren't equal (Iran owes Turkmenistan about $2 billion; Iraq owes Iran about $1.7 billion).
“In addition, discussions were conducted on the export of Iranian oil and petrochemical products, as well as petrochemical catalysts to Turkmenistan. Iran's proposal was welcomed by Turkmenistan,” he said.
On November 28, 2021, a tripartite contract on the swapping of 1.5-2 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas to Azerbaijan through Iran per year was signed between Iran and Azerbaijan in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on the sidelines of the 15th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO). The implementation of the contract began on January 1, 2022.
On June 3, 2022, Javad Owji and Azerbaijan’s Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov signed a memorandum on cooperation in the field of natural gas.
The Iranian side said that as a result of the memorandum, the volume of Turkmen gas swapped to Azerbaijan via Iran has doubled.
Iran stands second in the world for gas reserves, with about 34 trillion cubic meters of gas. Reportedly, Iran's gas extraction capacity is more than 1 billion cubic meters.
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