No Need to Import Turkmen Gas, Says Iran

Iran’s Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said his country will stop importing gas from Turkmenistan by March 2016.

Iran would no longer need to import gas from Turkmenistan as its gas production will increase by 200 mcm/d by that time, Shana news agency quoted him as saying.

The minister said that Iran has been importing gas from Turkmenistan to create opportunities for economic activists particularly the private sector.  

Iran has been looking to boost domestic gas production, especially that of South Pars gas field that the country share with Qatar.

Last week, country’s Deputy Oil Minister Seyed Emad Hosseini said Iran is aiming to inaugurate two new phases of the South Pars gas field in the next Iranian calendar year which begins on March 21, 2015,

Given the progress of phases 20 and 21 of the gas field, production will begin ahead of schedule during next year’s first half, the minister stated. 

South Pars covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers are situated in Qatar’s territorial waters.