• Energy

    Talks to Swap Turkmen Gas With UAE

    National Iranian Gas Export Company is holding negotiations with Turkmen oil companies to swap its gas by supplying it to the UAE, chief executive of NIGEC said on Thursday.

    "Emerging as a gas giant in global markets tops NIGEC's priorities," Alireza Kameli was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.

    Elaborating on NIGEC's policies in post-sanctions era, Kameli said, "Transferring natural gas and swapping it are among our major strategies to play a more active role in the gas market."

    Referring to Iran's untapped gas potentials, which amount to 34 trillion cubic meters, the official said, "Iran will turn into a gas hub in the Middle East in the near future."

    According to Kameli, preliminary talks are underway with multinational Turkmen oil companies to swap Turkmenistan's gas by supplying it to the UAE.

    "No agreement has been reached yet," he said, adding that the submitted proposals should be scrutinized.

    "Furthermore, feasibility studies must be conducted prior to taking a final decision. Moreover, negotiations are underway with Russia and Azerbaijan to swap 60 million cubic meters of gas per day."

    Pointing to negotiations held with the Caspian Sea littoral states, including Russia and Azerbaijan, to implement oil and gas swap plans, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said, "Natural gas transit via the Caspian Sea littoral states does not seem to be economically viable, which explains why we are after gas swap projects."

    Iranian officials said they discussed oil and gas swap with Russia along with Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan during the Third Summit of Gas Exporting Countries Forum.

    Earlier this month, senior representatives from oil major Rosneft discussed swap deals for oil, gas and petroleum products with Iranian officials in Tehran.

    This month, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic or SOCAR also is considering the possibility of delivering Russian gas to Iran, based on which Russia could deliver gas to Iran’s north and receive the same volume of gas from the south through a swap deal.