Iranian Oil Minister Arrives in Turkmenistan for Gas Talks

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari, heading a high-ranking delegation, arrived Monday in Turkmenistan for talks on gas exports to the Islamic Republic.

During his stay in the Central Asian republic, Nozari is scheduled to meet with Turkmenistan’s energy minister, and aims to finalize the agreement to export Turkmen gas to Iran.

Nozari is accompanied by Seyed Reza Kasaeizadeh, the head of the National Iranian Gas Export Company in this visit.

Discussions over Turkmenistan’s gas export price will be among the most pivotal topics discussed between Nozari and his Turkmen counterpart.

On the first leg of his tour, the Iranian oil minister met with Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov, where the two sides agreed on reinforcing bilateral ties in different fields of energy sector during a meeting held in Ashgabat on Monday.

“At present Iran imports 25 million cubic meters of natural gas from Turkmenistan on a daily basis. The two sides agreed on raising this amount up to 30 million cubic meters in near future,” Iran’s Ambassador to Turkmenistan Mohammad Reza Forqani said.

“Gas price was also discussed during the meeting. Iran and Turkmenistan has settled the price formula and we hope to reach agreement on the final price with the neighboring country until December 1st in order to prevent gas shortage during the winter time,” he added.

“Iran approved executing some Turkmen oil and gas projects,” Forqani concluded.