TEHRAN - National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Dispatching Director Mehdi Jamshidi-Dana said the country is exporting 32 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas to Iraq on a daily basis.

Mentioning the incident in the Iran-Turkey gas pipeline, Jamshidi-Dana said “although the exports to Turkey are still halted but our exports to Iraq continues.”

As reported, Iran's gas export to Turkey was halted on March 31, for the 11th time in the last 15 years due to an explosion.

According to the official, the Turkish side has not determined the schedule for the construction and repairing the pipeline due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Jamshidi-Dana further mentioned the gas supply to the power plants, saying that every day, 190 mcm of gas is also supplied to the country’s power plants.

He further noted that since the beginning of the spring and with the temperature rising, the country’s daily gas consumption has fallen to 250 mcm.

Iraq inked 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 that year after several years of delay.

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) were supposed to be 10 billion cubic meters a year based on a 2001 agreement signed between the two countries which is valid for 25 years.

EF/MA