Iran Suspends Gas Import From Turkmenistan

Iran has halted natural gas imports from Turkmenistan, the Oil Ministry said in a statement on its website Sunday.

The statement came a day after Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Tehran and Ashgabat had reached a preliminary agreement to extend their gas contract for five years following negotiations between National Iranian Gas Company officials and Turkmengaz in Ashgabat.

The ministry said the decision to end the import was taken after Ashgabat breached its gas contract with Iran once again last week. Turkmenistan had unilaterally stopped gas supplies to Iran in 2007 as the country was gripped by unseasonably cold temperatures that year.  The ministry  added that Turkmengaz, the country’s national gas company, suddenly halted gas supplies to Iran last week “in an illogical decision that was against the framework of its contract with Iran on claims that the dispute over its past gas dues should be immediately settled.”