Iranian Gas to Europe Is Economical, Says NIGC

While Iran and Armenia are working to reinforce energy cooperation, Hamidreza Araqi, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company, said that Teheran is interested in exporting gas to Europe, either through pipelines or as LNG.

“It is economical to export gas to the neighboring countries. Following the nuclear agreement, it is possible to export gas to Europe through Turkey too” Araqi said on Monday. 

Araqi said that Teheran can export gas through Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan too, while reporting that LNG to Europe remains an option on the table. 

“There are also experts who suggest that to enter distant global markets, it is better to export gas in LNG because it will become more economical” Araqi explained.

Teheran is clearly intentioned to draw international investors. 

“Since it is due that Iranian and foreign firms will have further partnership in the oil industry, it is essential that legal ambiguities in this respect will be clarified” Iran’s Vice president for legal affairs Elham Aminzadeh said, speaking about the Iran Petroleum Contracts (IPC) to be introduced in the coming months.

According to official news agency Shana, Iranian authorities are indeed interested in strengthening the private sector through international investments. Teheran is working on it. 

“The new oil contracts and the projects to be developed within their scope will be introduced to foreign investors in a conference in Tehran in month of Aban (Oct 23 – Nov 21),” Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh commented. 

At the same time, Iran and Armenia are negotiating expansion of their energy cooperation. According to the plans, Iran should increase its export of gas to the neighboring Armenia and importing extra electricity in return.