Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 5
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran says the International Court of Arbitration will announce its final verdict on the country's gas dispute with Turkey in summer.
The court hasn't announced its final verdict on the issue yet, Azizullah Ramazani, Director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) for International Affairs, said, the oil ministry's official SHANA news agency reported April 5.
In 1996, Iran and Turkey signed a 25-year deal on supplying 30 million cubic meters of gas to Turkey per day. Ankara appealed to the International Court of Arbitration regarding the price on Iranian gas in March 2012.
Although the contract is still in place, it remains a sore point in the two countries' gas relationship. The two sides have held new talks on both price and volume of imported gas from Iran.
Turkey wanted a 25-percent discount from Iran which provides one-fifth of the country's consumption, while Iran said to agree to the discount if Turkey increases the amount of imported gas. Eventually, the sides had to settle the dispute in the court.
Earlier Hamidreza Araqi, head of the NIGC said that the International Court of Arbitration court has ruled against Iran in its gas dispute with Turkey, and Tehran should provide Ankara with compensation of 10-15 percent for the gas supplied to that country within 2011-2015.
Following Araqi's statement the NIGC released a report on its official website, saying that the court hasn't announced the verdict and the final decision would be announced in future.