Iran gas export to Europe sets record

Iran has exported about nine billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe during the past 11 months, setting a new record, says the Iranian deputy oil minister.

“From the beginning of this year (March 21, 2010) until now, about nine billion cubic meters of natural gas were exported to neighboring countries such as Turkey and Armenia,” Mehr news agency quoted Javad Oji as saying on Tuesday.

He added that the average volume of Iran’s gas export increased by 27.6 percentage points per day.

Oji, who is also the managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), also said Iran would sign two gas deals with Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The increase in gas exports comes during peak domestic consumption in cold winter months.

Iran has the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves after Russia.