Iran, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan sign natural gas swap agreement

YEREVAN, November 29, /ARKA/. Iran, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have signed a gas swap deal for up to 2 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year, Russian news agency TASS reported citing Iranian IRIB broadcaster.

Iranian and Azerbaijani Presidents, Ebrahim Raisi and Ilham Aliyev attended the agreement signing ceremony, which took place on the sidelines of the summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization. The organization comprises all five Central Asian countries --Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan -- as well as Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey.

Under the deal, Iran will receive gas from Turkmenistan and deliver an equivalent amount to Azerbaijan at the Astara border, Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji told state TV.

"Turkmenistan will sell 5-6 million cubic metres of gas per day to Azerbaijan under the trilateral agreement signed in Turkmenistan," Iranian news agency IRNA said.

Owji also said Iran was moving to resolve a lingering gas debt dispute with Central Asia's Turkmenistan, which said in late 2017 that it was owed $1.8 billion in payments for gas delivered to Tehran, Reuters reported.

"We will soon pay the first instalment to clear the gas debt that we owe to the Turkmen side, after talks that were held earlier," Owji said, without giving the amount of the debt.

Iran has major natural gas fields in the south, but has imported gas from Turkmenistan since 1997 for distribution in its northern provinces, especially during the winter. -0-