Announcing the launch of negotiations with international oil companies working in Turkmenistan to swap gas to the UAE, managing director of NIGC said Iran will turn into the Middle East’s gas trading hub in the future.
Alireza Kameli deemed export, swap and transit of natural gas as one of Iran’s plans for joining the global trade; “Iran will become the gas trading hub in the Middle East in the coming years,” he stressed.
Managing director of National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) referred to some recent talks with some international firms on swapping Turkmenistan’s gas asserting “the companies are seeking to swap Turkmen gas to the United Arab Emirates.”
The official said the talks are at an early stage and no consensus has been reached; “the offered proposals need to be analyzed in terms of feasibility before making the final decision,” he underlined.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh had recently pointed out some negotiations with the Caspian Sea countries like Russia and Azerbaijan on implementing oil and natural gas swap projects adding, “currently, gas transit from the Caspian littoral states in not economically justified and we are designing plans for gas swaps.”
Furthermore, Hamid Reza Araghi, the Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) has reported on talks with Russia and Azerbaijan to swap 50 to 60 million cubic meters of gas per day.