Azernews.Az

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said on Wednesday that Turkmenistan stopped exports of gas to Iran, Mehr news agency reported.

The sides have not come to terms on purchase conditions, Qasemi said, adding that the imports of natural gas may be resumed if an agreement is reached.

On Sunday, ISNA news agency reported that Iran has put in a request for increasing imports of natural gas from Turkmenistan up to 40 million cubic meters per day.

Iran was importing 15-18 million cubic meters of gas per day from Turkmenistan, but the figure reached 30 million cubic meters during winter.

On October 22, IRNA news agency quoted National Iranian Gas Company's managing director Javad Owji as saying that imports of gas from Turkmenistan into Iran have decreased by 52 percent over the first half of the current Iranian year compared to the same period of last year, which began on March 20.

According to BP, Iran imported 10.2 billion cubic meters of gas from Turkmenistan last year, while exporting 8.4 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey.

In 2011, gas consumption and production in Iran amounted to about 153.3 billion cubic meters and 151.8 billion cubic meters, respectively.

Iran also barters around 400,000 cubic meters of its gas to Armenia for electricity. With Azerbaijan, Iran is using swaps, which accounts for one million cubic meters of gas per day.