Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 12/ Trend F.Milad/
A member of the Iranian parliament (Majlis) has sharply criticized Turkmenistan for unexpectedly cutting natural gas exports to Iran, saying that the northern neighbor has left Iranian people in a critical situation.
This is the second time when Turkmenistan cut gas exports to Iran amid harsh winters, Panannews news agency quotes Emad Hosseini as saying.
Turkmenistan's Turkmengaz Company has halved its gas exports to Iran without any prior notice to some 10 million cubic meters, sources told Mehr news agency, warning that exports may even be further declined.
The National Iranian Gas Company's managing director Javad Owji said despite the cut in natural gas imports and cold winter, no disruption in gas supply has been reported nationwide so far, Mehr news agency reported.
Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Export Company Hossein Bidarmaghz said the Central Asian country currently exports about 14 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Iran. Ashgabat expressed its willingness to increase the amount up to 20 billion cubic meters per year, he added.
Meanwhile, Fars news agency quotes Iranian ambassador to Ashgabat, Mohammad-Mousa Hashemi as saying on Feb. 7 that supplies of natural gas to Iran from Turkmenistan returned to normal levels.
Daily imports from Turkmenistan dropped to as little as 6 million cubic meters since Feb.1, less than the contracted volume, the agency reported.
Iran imports as much as 30 million cubic meters of gas per day from its neighbor, the report says.