Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday that Gazprom has offered gas supplies to Iran under a swap arrangement, and similar oil deals were also under consideration.
Moscow has boosted efforts to foster political and economic ties with Tehran and increased its activity after a decision in July to lift international sanctions on Iran in principle. The ending of sanctions, related to Iran's nuclear program and including modification on oil exports, have yet to take effect, Reuters reported.
Novak said Iran normally supplies gas to its northern regions from the south of the country and the proposed swap deals would help to cut transportation costs.
"We could supply gas through to Iran's north and receive gas from the south (of Iran) via swap deals in the form of liquefied natural gas or pipeline gas," Novak told Russian state-run TV Rossiya-24.
"Similar swaps could be done with oil. This is a reduction of transportation costs. Our colleagues have given a positive response to the idea," he added.
Iran is keen to recover its oil market share it lost as a result of international sanctions.
$5b Russian loan
Novak earlier told TASS on Thursday that Russian Economic Development Ministry and Finance Ministry are considering Iran's application for a $5-billion loan from Russia.
"Iran's application was just submitted to the Economic Development Ministry and Finance Ministry of the Russian Federation. They're now considering the application," he said.
The minister added, "Budget-funded intergovernmental credit is widely used as a financial instrument for triggering bilateral cooperation between countries," noting, "a similar tool was used when cooperating with Cuba."
Such a credit is possible for Iran, though each project will be decided on separately, he noted.
An earlier TASS report referred to Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky, as saying that Russian banks, including development bank VEB and the country's second-biggest lender VTB, may be organizers of a loan for Iran worth $5 billion.
Trade deal
Iran and Russia on Thursday signed an agreement to promote trade cooperation in infrastructure projects.
The agreement was signed by Mahmoud Vaezi, Iran's minister of communications and information technology, and the Russian Energy Minister Novak, Press TV reported.
It was signed at the end of Novak's two-day visit to the Iranian capital.
The agreement specifically calls for expansion of cooperation between the two countries in areas such as transportation, the oil industry, road and urban development as well as the banking sector.
Novak, heading a 50-member delegation, arrived in Tehran on Wednesday to discuss joint economic projects.
Vaezi told reporters after meeting Novak in one of his earliest meetings in Tehran that Russia has pledged to issue a credit line of $5 billion for joint projects with Iran. He said the credit line is expected to usher in a new era in Iran-Russia economic relations.
In a meeting was with Abbas Akhoundi, Iran's minister of roads and urban development, Novak was briefed on 121 projects in Iran that Akhoundi said could be implemented at a total cost of €25 billion.
Before signing the Thursday agreement with Novak, Vaezi told reporters that Iran and Russia had devised a package of joint projects with a total value of $25 billion to $30 billion.
He also said the grounds were also prepared during Novak's meetings in Tehran to devise a mechanism to provide funds for joint projects.
The Iranian minister added that Iran will soon send a high-ranking delegation to Moscow to discuss mechanisms to facilitate Iran-Russia financial transactions on the projects.