A senior Iranian energy official says the country will raise its planned natural gas exports to Iraq upon a request from the Arab country.National Iranian Gas Export Company Director General Alireza Kameli said on Saturday that the amount of natural gas Iran has agreed to export to Iraq will increase to 40 million cubic meters per day (mcm/day), Shana reported.
In July, Iran and Iraqi officials agreed for 25 million cubic meters of Iranian gas to be delivered to Iraqi power plants in Sadr, Baghdad and al-Mansouryah through a 270-kilometer (167-mile) pipeline.
Speaking on the sidelines of his meeting with Iraq's deputy prime minister for energy, Hussain al-Shahristani, Kamali said the contract had originally had a duration of four years, which would be extended by another six years upon the request from the Iraqi side.
According to Kameli, Iranian gas exports to its western neighbor will gradually rise from an initial seven million cubic meters per day to 25 mcm/day by 2015 and ultimately to 40 mcm/day by mid-2015.
He said the two countries also plan to finalize a contract in the coming weeks for the export of another 50 million cubic meters per day of gas to Iraq's southern city of Basra.
Iran, which sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia, has been trying to enhance its gas production by increasing foreign and domestic investment, especially in its South Pars Gas Field.
It is part of a joint gas field shared with Qatar, covering an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf and known as the South Pars Gas Field. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, the North Dome Gas Field, is situated in Qatar's territorial waters.
According to Irans Oil Ministry, Irans proved natural gas reserves are about 1,045.7 trillion cubic feet (29.61 trillion cubic meters) or about 15.8 percent of world's total reserves.
By Press TV
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