Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.24
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called on Austria to boost its participation in Iranian gas projects.
Rouhani met with Austrian President Heinz Fischer on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on September 24.
Iranian officials held talks with Austrian OMV last year to discuss ways to transfer Iranian gas via Austria to Europe.
Ali Majedi, former Iranian deputy oil minister in charge of international affairs, said in August that two European countries had already expressed interest in the project.
Majedi, as cited by ITAR-TASS, suggested that Iran could support Europe's attempts to diversify its energy supply sources by providing its own gas.
He added that Iran had discussed possible gas supply routes with two European delegations.
World oil giants have shown interest in returning to Iran following the easing of sanctions against Iran in light of the implementation of Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.
Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum (BP), Malaysia's Petronas, Spain's Repsol, Russia's second largest oil producer, Lukoil, France's Total and Italy's Eni have expressed their willingness to resume work in Iran.