Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.4 / Trend A.Yusifzade /
According to the new gas agreement Teheran - Caracas, Iran exports Liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Argentina and Cuba, Mehr quotes Ali Kheyrandish, managing director of Iran LNG, as saying.
"The South American market for LNG export will be priority for Iran. At present, Venezuela has long-term contracts with Argentina and Cuba on LNG gas supplies to 2013 to sate the consumer market of these countries ", Kheyrandish said.
The managing director of Iran LNG Company stated that according to the reached agreement the part of LNG supplies to Argentina and Cuba will be produced at the Iranian factory which is under construction in Venezuelans "Delta Cariba" region, with productive capacity of 5.4 million tons LNG per year.
Earlier, SHANA news agency quoted Ali Kheyrandish as saying the slow advancement of the LNG projects have been due to economic reasons and is not related to political conditions and international restrictions.
He said the most important factor in implementing LNG projects is the financial aspect of the project.
He pointed out that NIOC and foreign contractors have not been able to reach a deal for the development of LNG units due to monetary issues.
Iran has plans to produce 70 million tons of liquefied natural gas by 2015, becoming a major supplier to the world markets.
According to the National Iranian Gas Export Company's marketing manager, Alireza Qasemi-Javid, seven LNG production projects are being developed in the country to hit the target.
The Persian LNG project with an annual output of 16.2 million tons, the Pars LNG project with an annual capacity of 10 million tons, the Iran LNG project with an annual capacity of 10.8 million tons, the North Pars with an annual capacity of 20 million tons, the Golshan LNG project with an annual capacity of 10 million tons, and two other projects with a total production capacity of 3 million tons per year are the abovementioned projects.
According to Qasemi-Javid the Persian LNG and Pars LNG projects will become operational in 2014 while North Pars and Golshan projects will come on stream in 2015.