Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran has signed an initial contract with the UAE on exporting gas in the form of CNG (compressed natural gas), Mansour Riahi, deputy-managing director of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC) said, Iran 's Mehr news agency reported May 14.
The sides have finalized the negotiations in order to sign the final agreement on the issue.
Iran's private sector will be involved in exporting to foreign countries, Riahi said, the needed licenses for the export of the CNG by private companies have been issued.
Natural gas will be compressed in Iran 's southern Assaluyeh port and will be exported in 40 foot shipping containers, Riahi said.
He also added that the implementation of this new method for gas export needs time.
Iran holds 33.8 trillion cubic meters of proven natural gas reserves- or 18.2 percent of the world's total proven reserves.
The Islamic Republic has two gas trade deals with Iraq, one agreement with Pakistan and one memorandum of understanding with Oman that add up to a total of 120 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) of natural gas exported to these countries.
Tehran is evaluating other markets like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as well as Europe.
Earlier Alireza Kameli, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Exports Company (NIGC) said that the country will capitalize on growing production from South Pars to add 150 mcm of gas per day to its export capacity in coming years, adding Iran could export gas to Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
Edited by CN
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