An Iranian deputy oil minister has announced that the country will start exporting 40 million cubic meters (mcm) a day of natural gas to Iraq by summer 2013.Javad Owji said on Friday that the two countries have reached an agreement based on which Irans natural gas will be delivered to the neighboring Iraq via two separate routes.
Noting that the construction of the friendship pipeline between Iran, Iraq and Syria has been under way since last year, Owji said that previous contracts required Iran to pump 20 mcm per day of natural gas to Iraq.
The pipeline would be designed in such a way that it would be able to deliver gas to other Muslim countries like Jordan and Lebanon in the future.
The pipeline will stretch from Assaluyeh, near the massive offshore South Pars Gas Field in southern Iran, and will continue into neighboring Iraq to feed three Iraqi power plants running on gas.
The South Pars Gas Field, which is shared with Qatar, holds about 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, or about eight percent of the total world reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas resources.
Iran, which sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia, is making efforts to up its gas production by increasing foreign and domestic investments, especially in South Pars Gas Field.
By Press TV
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