Tehran, Dec 7, Iraq, a major customer of Iranian gas, has increased its demand for Iranian gas, Managing Director of National Iranian Gas Company Alireza Kameli said on Saturday.
He said that Iraq has requested to augment level of Iranian gas being exported to Iraq.
Kameli told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with Iraqi Deputy Energy Minister Adel Hamid Mehdi that Iran and Iraq have been holding lengthy talks to that effect over the past several months.
He said the Iraqi party has been favoring extension of a related deal as well as increasing the volume of Iranian gas currently being exported to Iraq as per an amendment to the contract for export of Iranian gas to Iraq.
He said that according to a contract Iran had undertaken to export gas to Iraq for a four-year term but amendment made to the contract extended the period to 10 years.
Kameli said that the Iraqi party requested the volume of the exports to be increased to 40 million cubic meters from 25 million cubic meters.”
Kameli said as of July 2014, with start of the new phase of the exports, Iran will supply seven million cubic meters a day to Iraq.
The capacity will gradually increase, said the official, adding that based on the time table for 2015, there would be 25 million cubic meters of gas exports to Iraq and as of mid 2015, there would be the possibility for increase in volume of the exports to 40 million cubic meters.
As for gas exports to Basra, he said, “We wait the Iraqi party to conduct necessary surveys based on the talks they held with the Iranian party and that negotiations would be finalized during a visit to Iran.”
The Iraqi minister for his part said the first chunk of Iraq gas imports to the tune of seven million cubic meters will be in the first half of next year.
