Iran ready to export gas to Iraq by mid-May

Iran says it is ready to start exporting natural gas to neighboring Iraq within a month.

Ali Reza Kameli, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) announced that Iran’s gas will be exported to Iraq within a month.

“Iran and Iraq seek to implement the gas export project as soon as possible…,” said the NIGEC head, adding that gas exports to Baghdad will start from 4 million cubic meters per day and can be increased to 35 cubic meters per day in future.

Kameli also said Iran’s gas will be exported to the Iraqi city of Basra in near future.

“Gas exports to Basra will start from 5 million cubic meters per day and will reach 30 million cubic meters, a year after an agreement is finalized,’ he was quoted by IRNA as saying on Saturday.

On July 2, 2013, Iran signed an agreement with Iraq to deliver natural gas to its western neighbor.

Based on the agreement, 25 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas will be delivered to Sadr, Baghdad and al-Mansouryah power plants through a pipeline.

The 270-kilometer pipeline is estimated to earn Iran USD 3.7 billion a year in revenues.

The pipeline stretches from Assaluyeh, near the massive offshore South Pars oil and gas field in southern Iran, and continues into neighboring Iraq to feed Iraqi power plants running on gas.

The South Pars gas field is located in the Persian Gulf on the common border between Iran and Qatar. It is estimated that the field contains 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of condensate.

Iran, which sits on the world’s largest gas reserves, intends to enhance gas production by increasing foreign and domestic investment, especially in its South Pars gas field.

Earlier this week, a high-ranking Iranian gas industry official announced that the country exported 8 percent more natural gas during last Iranian calendar year (ended March 20, 2015) compared to the preceding year.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Hamid Reza Araqi, the managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), said last year Iran exported one billion cubic meters more gas compared to a year before.