Oil Ministry Caretaker to Visit Turkey to Sign Agreement

Iranian oil ministry caretaker Gholam-Hossein Nozari is expected to pay a visit to Turkey next month to sign energy agreements with the Ankara officials, a Turkish official said. The official said that according to an agreement held during the last week talks in Tehran by Iranian and Turkish officials, Tehran and Ankara in cooperation with Ashgabat are due to establish a gas consuming power plant in Turkmenistan.

The agreement to build the power station was reached during weekend talks between Turkish and Iranian energy officials, which Turkey said on Monday also included plans to construct three separate thermal and natural gas-fired power plants in Turkey and Iran.

In addition, Turkey has said it will help to build a hydroelectric plant in Iran and will purchase 3 billion-6 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity from Iran to cover its shortages.

“Turkey will buy electricity that is produced in Turkmenistan over lines that will run through Iran in order to meet our increasing needs,” the ministry official told Reuters.

The gas for the power plant will be supplied by Turkmenistan, the official said.

Turkey has rapidly expanded its cooperation on energy projects with Iran in recent months. This includes Turkish plans to invest $3.5 billion in the Islamic Republic’s South Pars gas fields and to use Iran as a transit country for Turkmen natural gas.

The United States has said it opposes the plan.