TEHRAN – The managing director of National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) said gas exports to Baghdad and Basra is going to rise to 40 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) in the months to come.

“We expect Iran's gas exports to Iraq to increase in the coming months, which Iraq will have a peak summer heat and the country’s electricity consumption will increase,” Hossein Montazer Torbati told Tasnim news agency.

“The volume of Iranian gas exports to Iraq is constantly increasing and is reaching the contract ceiling,” he added.

The official also mentioned the gas exports deal with Turkey, saying “The deal with Turkey is in progress and moving forward and there will be no problem regarding gas exports to the country.”

“In our contract with Turkey, we have agreed for the two sides to negotiate the contract’s renewal in its last two years, so in the coming months we will most definitely be discussing renewal with Tureky,” the official noted.

Turkey seeking to extend gas deal

The official further noted that Turkey has expressed willingness for renewing the deal to continue importing Iranian gas and Iran also doesn’t see any problem with extending the contract.

The Iraqi government approved a deal in late 2017 to import gas from Iran to the eastern border province of Diyala, increasing purchases of the Iranian fuel, which started in June after several years of delays.

As per the deal, Iran committed itself to exporting gas to the Iraqi capital Baghdad and the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

Iranian gas exports to Turkey (the country’s oldest customer) stand at 10 billion cubic meters a year based on a 2001 agreement signed between the two countries which is valid for 25 years.

EF/MA