Iran Reviewing Routes for Gas Exports to Europe: Official
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An Iranian gas official announced that the country is considering a number of routes to export its natural gas to Europe when the anti-Iran sanctions are lifted.
Iran is reviewing five or six routes, such as via the Black Sea, Iraq, Syria, and the Mediterranean Sea, for gas deliveries to Europe, Managing Director of National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) Azizollah Ramezani said.
He made the remarks on Wednesday, speaking to the Russian RIA Novosti on the sidelines of the World Gas Conference in Paris.
Ramezani added that Iranian gas could be delivered via the Turkish Stream pipeline being developed by Russia.
"There may be a common field, for example in the area of gas pipelines… In the future Iranian gas pipelines could possibly reach Europe and Russian gas pipelines to Europe may be joined and deliver gas together to Europe," he went on to say.
According to the Iranian official, each of the five or six routes considered for exporting gas to Europe will be studied according to certain criteria, including economic cost efficiency.
Ramezani said, however, that a route would only be chosen once the Western sanctions are lifted.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, US, Britain, France, and Germany) are in talks to hammer out a lasting accord that would end more than a decade of impasse over Tehran's peaceful nuclear program.
On April 2, the two sides reached a framework nuclear agreement in Lausanne, Switzerland, with both sides committed to push for a final deal until the end of June.
The framework provides a series of solutions to the differences that will be the basis of a comprehensive joint plan of action.
According to the framework agreement, the nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran by the United Nations Security Council, the European Union and the US will be removed.
