Iran is to file a lawsuit against Turkmenistan if the two sides fail to reach an agreement over the compensation for last winter’s gas cut.

“Iran will apply to the court if Turkmenistan fails to compensate for cutting off gas exports to Iran in January 2008,” said Iran’s Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari to the parliament on Wednesday.
“According to the contract, Iran can file a lawsuit if the two sides do not reach an agreement through talks,” he added. The minister noted that the parties have had two rounds of talks to solve the problem.
“The Iranian oil ministry has set up a team to follow the case; some special reports have been prepared,” Nozari explained.
The Iranian official also pointed out that last year’s cold snap was unprecedented. “It snowed in Baghdad in 2008 after 100 years. It even snowed in the city of Ghasr-e Shirin on the Iran-Iraq border,” he explained.
Turkmenistan suspended its gas exports to Iran in December, citing technical reasons. The halt in gas delivery caused Iran’s northeast to struggle during the freezing wintry weather last year.
Tehran maintains that Ashgabat cut supplies because it intended to raise the price of its gas amid a cold snap. The central Asian country resumed its gas exports to Iran in February.
Iran uses Turkmen gas imports for distribution to consumers in its northeastern region, which is distant from the country’s southern gas-fields and closer to those of Turkmenistan.
Iran annually imports about 5 percent of its natural gas needs from Turkmenistan.
(Source: Press TV)