Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 17
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade Mohammadreza Nematzadeh met Iraq's Oil Minister Adel Abdul-Mehdi to discuss cooperation between the two neighbor countries, IRIB news agency reported on Feb. 17.
The Iranian side in this meeting offered proposals on building and renewing refineries across Iraq.
The sides also discussed cooperation on oil and gas fields, Iran providing Iraq with oil industry equipment, as well as the transfer of Iranian gas to Kuwait through Iraqi soil.
The Iraqi oil minister also invited powerful Iranian companies to take part in his country's tenders on oil.
Iran's Nemadzadeh in turn invited Iraq's oil industry experts and officials to visit Iran's International Oil and Gas Exhibition which is going to be held in the spring.
Ali-Reza Kameli, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Exports Company (NIGEC) said in September that Iran will be ready to export gas to Iraq by the beginning of next Iranian fiscal year (March 2015).
Based on the agreement, Iran should start delivering 7 million cubic meters (mcm) per day of natural gas to its western neighbor.
A 100-kilometer pipeline stretching from the village of Charmaleh, located in Iran's western province of Kermanshah, into the town of Naft Shahr on the border with Iraq will transmit the gas.
The massive offshore South Pars gas field in southern Iran will feed the pipeline, which is estimated to earn Iran $3.7 billion a year in revenues.
Edited By CN