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Iran to start exporting gas to Iraq next year

Business Materials 13 September 2014 17:45 (UTC +04:00)

Tehran, Iran, September 13
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:

A gas pipeline between Iran and Iraq will be ready in October.

Alireza Qaribi, the Managing Director of Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company (IGEDC) said that the construction is already finished and the experts are testing it, Iran's Fars News Agency reported on September 13.

"We are waiting for the Iraqi to finish their part on the Iraqi soil," he said, adding that based on the reports the Iraqi section is also nearly finished.

"Due to the unstable situation in Iraq, the two countries have agreed to delay gas exports to next [Iranian] calendar year (to start on March 21)," Qaribi explained.

Qaribi said in June that once the 100-kilometers pipeline comes on stream, Iran will start exporting seven million cubic meters of gas to Iraq, Iran's IRNA News Agency reported on June 15.

"Once Iran's 6th cross-country gas pipeline comes on stream, the country can increase its gas exports to Iraq," he explained.

"The 6th cross-country gas pipeline will be completed in the next [Iranian] year (to start on March 21, 2015)," he said.

The Managing Director of National Iranian Gas Company Hamid Reza Araqi said on June 14 that Tehran and Baghdad have not started their negotiation over signing a second gas export contract.

"The proposed route for the second deal is to transfer Iranian gas to the Iraqi city of Basra," he said, Iran's Tasnim News Agency reported on June 14.

"But we haven't signed any contract yet," he added.

Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Ali Majedi said on May 19 that Iran will start exporting gas to Iraq once the two sides complete their share of the gas pipeline.

"Based on the signed contract, Iran and Iraq can postpone the starting day of gas exports to the next year," Majedi said.

"Iran has agreed to export 40 million cubic meters of gas to Iraq," he added.

Once the deal becomes operational, Baghdad will become Tehran's main gas buyer, overtaking Ankara, Iran's IRNA News Agency reported on May 21.

Majedi said that the signed contract was valid for four years, but based on the agreement reached between the two countries' ministers, the contract have been extended to ten years.

It is while, Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Hamid Reza Araqi said on Mar. 4 that based on an agreement with Iraq, Tehran will start exporting gas to Baghdad in summer, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported.

Iranian Fars News Agency reported in February that once the pipeline is ready, Tehran will start exporting seven million cubic meters of gas per day to Baghdad.

The figure will reach 40 million cubic meters in the first phase. It is while Iran was supposed to export only 25 million cubic meters of gas per day to its southwestern neighbor in the first phase.

Iranian gas is expected to account for 30-35 percent and 65-70 percent of Iraqi households and power plants' gas consumption, respectively.

The managing director of National Iranian Gas Exports Company Alireza Kameli said on Dec. 7 that Iraq has requested to increase its gas imports from Iran up to 90 million cubic meters per day, the IRNA News Agency reported.

"The two sides have agreed to increase the volume of Iran's gas exports to Baghdad to 40 million cubic meters from the current 25 million," he explained.

"The two sides have also agreed to extend the deal for 10 years," he said.

The deal was previously valid for four years.

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