Iran and Turkey gas dispute will be hopefully ended considering the post-sanctions atmosphere, the ISNA news agency quoted Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Amirhossein Zamani-Nia as saying on Monday.
Negotiations with Turkey over exporting more gas to the country is making little progress, Zamani-Nia said, adding that sanctions relief opens new opportunities and a solution to Iran and Turkey gas dispute is more likely to be found so that Turkey will import more gas from Iran.
In 1996, Iran and Turkey signed a 25-year deal on supply of Turkey with 30 million cubic meters of gas daily. Although the contract is still in place, it remains a sore point in the two countries’ gas relationship. The two sides have held new talks on both price and volume of imported gas from Iran.
Turkey wants Iran to bring the price down to international levels as the Turkish believe the price is high, asking for a 25-percent discount. Iran, also, has conditioned a reduced gas price on Turkey importing more gas from Iran.
Iran reportedly charges Turkey $490 for every 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas it exports to its neighbor. Turkey claims that the Republic of Azerbaijan and Russia supply gas to Turkey at $335 and $425 per 1,000 cubic meters, respectively.
Turkey has filed two complaints in the International Court of Arbitration accusing Iran of overcharging for its gas, while also complaining of its low quality and quantity, first of which have been announced in favor of Iran.
“Given that the outcome of the first arbitration in the gas dispute was announced in Iran’s favor, the circumstances for the announcement of the second result will be also in Iran’s favor to a great extent,” head of the international liaison office at the National Iranian Gas Company Azizollah Ramezani said.
Iran is Turkey’s second supplier of gas after Russia, providing for one-fifth of the country’s consumption.