Iran ends reliance on Turkmen gas

Iran

TEHRAN, July 26, 2017 – A pipeline coming on stream next week will end Iran’s wintertime reliance on Turkmen gas for its northern provinces, an Iranian official said on Tuesday.

Hamid Reza Araghi, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company, said the Damghan-Neka pipeline would free Iran from the need for gas imports from Turkmenistan, but the two countries would continue gas swaps.

The pipeline will channel 35 mcm (1.24 bcf) per day of natural gas from Damghan, located in Iran’s Semnan province, to the Caspian city of Neka.

In early January, Ashgabat cut gas supplies to Iran, demanding that Tehran settle outstanding debts. Exports were also halted in 2006 as Turkmenistan sought a hike in the gas price.

The pipeline will address gas shortages in the Semnan, Golestan, Mazandaran, North Khorasan, Khorasan Razavi, and South Khorasan provinces.