Iran gas flow to Turkey resumes after blast

Iran has resumed gas exports to Turkey after repairs on a pipeline which was blown up in a sabotage attack on the Turkish territory last week.

“Following Turkey’s announcement of readiness, gas transfer has resumed at a rate of 20 million cubic meters (a day),” the National Iranian Gas Company said in a statement.

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said flows had only been partially restored.

“Of the two lines in the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, there is no flow in one of them and repairs are ongoing. There is flow in the back up line,” he was quoted as saying

The gas flow on the 40-inch pipeline stopped last Monday after it was hit by a bomb blast in the Turkish province of Agri.

No group has claimed responsibility but the attack bore the hallmark of PKK militants who have stepped up raids across Turkey after Ankara’s escalation of airstrikes on their positions.

Tourist trains between Iran and Turkey have also come under bombing attacks at least twice over the past week, which have left a Turkish train operator injured.

Iran is Turkey’s second supplier of gas after Russia, providing for one-fifth of the country’s consumption. Turkey imports about 10 billion cubic meters of gas a year from Iran under a 25-year deal signed in 1996.

The pipeline runs for 2,577 kilometers (1,601 miles) from Tabriz in northwest Iran to Ankara in Turkey.