Iran favors markets in Asia and the neighboring states over Europe for exporting gas, said a senior Iranian gas official
Alireza Kameli, head of National Iranian Gas Exports Company (NIGEC), said gas export to neighboring states and Asia is Iran's top priority due to proximity, higher prices and growing consumption, Shana reported.
Iran needs to lay 2,000km to 4,000km pipelines to export gas to Europe whereas for neighboring countries the length hardly exceeds 200km, Kameli said.
In addition to this, several countries will charge Iran for exporting gas through their territories which will reduce Iran's earnings from such projects, he noted.
Besides, the trend of gas consumption in Europe is declining and Iran does not favor this.
Iran holds the world's biggest oil and gas reserves. It sits atop 34 tcm of proven natural gas in its reserves constituting 18 percent of the world's proven gas reserves
.