ANKARA -- Tehran and Ankara inked a 1 billion euro ($1.29 billion) contract here on Thursday to build a pipeline that will transfer Iran’s natural gas to Turkey.

The contract was signed on the sidelines of Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi’s meeting with Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz, ILNA News Agency reported.
National Iranian Gas Company’s Managing Director Javad Owji and Turkey's BOTAS Petroleum Pipeline Corporation Managing Director Fazil Senel signed the contract.
Based on the agreement, the Turkish side will secure 77 percent of the required fund for completing the 660- kilometer pipeline.
It is the 4th section of Iran’s sixth cross-country pipeline which extends from Assalouyeh, southwest of the country, to Bazargan border in the northwest.
In October 2009, during Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Tehran, the two countries signed memorandums of understanding on oil and gas cooperation and transferring Iran’s gas to European markets through Turkey.
Iran currently exports 25 million cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey per day and the figure could be increased to 30 million cubic meters a day. Iran has the world’s second largest gas reserves and third largest oil reserves.