Iran resumes gas supply to Turkey

Iran has resumed pumping natural gas to Turkey after a week-long halt caused by a blast in the pipeline, says an Iranian official.

“The export of gas to Turkey, halted due to explosion, was resumed at 14:26 p.m. local time (0956GMT) on Thursday” SHANA, the Iranian Oil Ministry’s news agency, quoted the spokesman for the National Iranian Gas Company, Majid Boujarzadeh, as saying.

The supply of natural gas from Iran to Turkey was disrupted on August 11 after an explosion damaged a section of the gas pipeline in Turkey’s eastern province of Agri, which borders Iran.

No one has claimed responsibility for the blast that bears the hallmarks of the ones carried out by the militants with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The separatist PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community, including Turkey, Iran, and the European Union.

Iran, which owns the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves after Russia, is Turkey’s second-biggest supplier after Moscow.

According to reports, Iran exports an average amount of more than 30 million cubic meters of natural gas on a daily basis to Turkey. The figure indicates a daily growth of 11 million cubic meters compared to 2010.