Tehran, Aug 15, IRNA -- Iran has prepared the draft of a much-awaited agreement with Iraq to export natural gas to the country, a senior energy official announced on Saturday.

'The draft has been finalized after four days of discussions between the Iranian and Iraqi expert teams,' Azizollah Ramezani, the director for international affairs department of the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC), told reporters today.

Ramezani added that the text of the agreement will be forwarded to the relevant authorities for final approval.

He further added that Iran and Iraq are expected to sign the agreement within the next two weeks and that exports of natural gas from Iran to Iraq will start accordingly.

The two countries signed a basic agreement for the export of natural gas from Iran's South Pars gas field to Iraq back in 2013.

Based on the agreement, a daily of 25 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas will be delivered to Sadr, Baghdad and al-Mansouryah power plants through the 270-kilometer pipeline.

The volume will increase to 30 mcm per day during the hot seasons.

The project has been long in the offing but had been delayed over security concerns resulting from the war of insurgency that the ISIL terrorists have waged in Iraq.

By IRNA