Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.14
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran is currently mulling to extend electricity export contract with Iraq.
Iranian deputy energy minister Esmaeil Mahsouli said that negotiations between the two countries over electricity price is underway, Iran's ISNA news agency reported on October 14.
The two sides have already agreed that the volume of electricity export to Iraq to be increased from 1000 megawatt hours per year to 1300 megawatt hours, he added.
This is while Iranian deputy energy minister Houshang Falahatian said on September 28 that Iran has extended electricity export contract with Iraq till the end of 2014.
He said the contract duration had been finished one month ago, but the two sides agreed to extend the contract till the end of the year.
Iran electricity exports to neighboring countries increased by 2.66 percent in the first half of the current year (which ended on September 22) compared to same period of time the previous year, Iran's IRNA News Agency reported on September 24.
Iran's electricity imports from neighboring countries also reached 1,745.5 gigawatt hours in the mentioned period, which is 7.12 percent less than in the previous year.
Deputy Energy Minister Sattar Mahmoudi said in November 2013 that Iran annually exports 8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to neighboring countries.
"The mentioned figure is about 3 percent of the country's total output," the ILNA News Agency quoted Mahmoudi as saying.
"Iran is currently among the world's top countries in regards to electricity control and transmission," he said.
Mahmoudi went on to note that Iran's production capacity has surpassed 70,000 megawatt hours.
"Iran has electricity ties with all the neighboring countries," he said, adding that Tehran eyes to export electricity to Europe via Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan.
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