Gas Flow to Turkey Resumes

Iran has resumed gas exports to Turkey after Botas, the country's state oil and gas company, said it is ready to import gas from Iran, the National Iranian Gas Company's spokesman said.

"The pipeline has been fixed and gas flow has resumed at a rate of 27 million cubic meters per day, yet it will reach 30 mcm/d as soon as the pressure to pump is adjusted," Majid Boujarzadeh was quoted as saying by Shana on Monday.  

On October 27, the flow of Iranian natural gas to Turkey halted after an explosion hit a gas pipeline in Turkey. The pipeline was sabotaged about 12 kilometers inside Turkish territory, which halted the gas flow in the 40-inch pipeline. The blast caused a fire that was swiftly put out.

An unnamed official at NIGC had announced that Iran would resume gas exports to Turkey as soon as Botas completes repairs.

Sabotage is common on pipelines going into Turkey from Iran and Iraq, where the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK militants are based. The outlawed PKK has waged an armed struggle against the Turkish state since 1984. Ankara has designated the Kurdish group as a terrorist organization.

Saboteurs had already attacked the same pipeline in Turkey's eastern province of Agri on July 28, halting the flow of gas for almost 10 days.

Turkey buys around a quarter of its 40 billion cubic meters of piped natural gas imports per year from Iran, making its eastern neighbor the second biggest supplier after Russia. Natural gas is used for almost half of Turkey's electricity generation.

Turkey receives more than 90% of Iranian gas under a long-term contract, which amounts to around 10 billion cubic meters per annum.

The infrastructure to double gas exports to Turkey has been established, including the installation of new electric motors in Tabriz Natural Gas Compressor Station, the deputy operations manager at NIGC said.

"The station's transfer capacity, which previously stood at 35 mcm/d, has now doubled," Abdolhossein Samari added, noting that the rise in transfer capacity will increase gas exports to Turkey. Iran exports natural gas via pipelines to three neighboring countries, namely Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have swap arrangements with Iran, which account for 6% and 3% of Iran’s natural gas exports, respectively.