TEHRAN – A gas deal between Iran’s National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) and Switzerland’s Elektrizitaetsgesellschaft Laufenburg (EGL) which was signed in March 2009 for the renovation of Iran’s gas refineries has been put into effect as of March 21, said the NIGEC manager for engineering affairs here on Sunday.

Rasoul Salmani added that the deal is aimed at reducing gas consumption in power plants and gas pressure boosting stations by 30-40 million cubic meters per day, thus increasing efficiency in such facilities, the Mehr News Agency reported on Sunday.
Previously the Swiss firm signed a 25-year deal valued at 22 billion euros with the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) in June 2007 to deliver 5.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Europe via a pipeline which will join existing pipes that run from Iran through Turkey to new lines running from Greece via Albania to Italy