Iran is discussing joint export of natural gas to international markets with Azerbaijan in a sign that Tehran may already have revived plans to pipe gas to Europe.
Alireza Kameli, the managing director of the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC), announced that his company is in serious talks to this end with the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR, Press TV reported.
"Tehran and Baku have conducted negotiations on joint investments in gas export projects," Kameli said.
"This is in line with Iran's plans to expedite natural gas production over the next three years," he said.
Iran's huge natural gas reserves had for years made it a prime choice for exports to Europe.
Accordingly, separate discussions were initiated by a consortium named Nabucco as well as the Swiss EGL. However, the complications that later emerged — specifically the US-engineered sanctions — sidelined Iran from their plans to pipe gas to Europe.
The prospects that sanctions could eventually be removed in light of the recent progress on Iranian nuclear energy program once again put Iran in focus.
Nevertheless, a more serious plan now appears to involve Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan Economic Minister Shahin Mustafayev told Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh during his visit to Tehran last Tuesday that Iran can use Azerbaijan's infrastructure to export oil and gas to world markets.
"Iran can use Azerbaijan's infrastructure, especially the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline to export oil," Mustafayev noted, adding that Iran can also join the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project in the future.
TANAP, which will extend for 1,850 kilometers, is projected to pump gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 field in the Caspian Sea to Turkey and from there to Europe.
Construction of the pipeline began in March and is expected to be completed by 2018.
Earlier in June, Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev had also said Iran can join TANAP to export gas to Europe.
"Iran is a country with a great potential in the region. If the process continues, Iran could join TANAP and export gas to Europe," Aliyev added.
Iranian officials had earlier said exporting gas to Europe is not a priority at the current juncture.
"Given the gas price decline in Europe, the economic viability of the project has probably decreased. Besides, the market share of single shipments and LNG has grown," said Rokneddin Javadi, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).