ASHGABAT (TCA) — Iran’s growing natural gas exports and plans to supply the fuel to China, India and Europe make the Islamic Republic a direct competitor of gas-rich Turkmenistan in this sphere, the Chronicles of Turkmenistan independent website reports.
Turkmenistan for many years has been trying to promote the project to transport its gas to India via the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, the construction of which was launched by the Turkmen side despite concerns of other project participants and investors about the unstable situation in Afghanistan. At the same time, Iran is in a more privileged position since it has a common border with Pakistan and can supply gas to Pakistan and India bypassing Afghanistan.
The same is true with the western route. Turkmenistan has already completed the construction of the internal gas pipeline East-West to transport gas from the fields in the Turkmen eastern province to the Caspian Sea and subsequently to Europe via Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. However, Iran again has a more favorable geographical position as it shares a border with Turkey and does not depend on the still unresolved status of the Caspian Sea, on the bottom of which the gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan is to be built.
The website Iran.ru reported with reference to the Director of International Affairs at National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), Azizollah Ramezani, that exports of natural gas from Iran are scheduled to reach 40 billion cubic meters a year in the short term perspective.
By 2021 Iran intends to increase gas exports to 80 billion cubic meters a year. “Exports to China and India are on the agenda. We also have an opportunity to sell natural compressed gas to South Korea and Japan,” Ramezani was quoted as saying.
As for exports to Europe, Ramezani said that Turkey is ready to collaborate with Iran on this issue. “Transporting gas to Europe is a reachable goal for Iran. We can also sell compressed natural gas to Europe,” he stated.
