Oil minister: Iran to become self-sufficient of gas imports
Iran will no longer need to import gas, once all the phases of South Pars gas field come on stream, Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said on Monday.
Phases 15 and 16 of South Pars will come on stream by March 2013, the ISNA news agency quoted Qasemi as saying.
Qasemi, who had previously expressed the hope that Turkmenistan will resume gas exports to Iran, went on to note that Iran has no difficulty fuelling up its northern and north-eastern power plants.
Iran has increased gas production of the Hasheminejad refinery in the northeast of the country by 12 per cent, the PANA news agency reported on Sunday.
The move aims at meeting Iran's gas demands following the recent halt in the nation's gas imports from Turkmenistan.
The semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Qasemi last Wednesday as saying a price dispute had led to a halt in gas supplies from Turkmenistan.
This is the second time during the past five years that Turkmenistan cut gas supplies to Iran during a cold season when the country reduced gas exports to Iran last winter by 10mcm per day.
Hovewer the head of Turkmenistan 's state gas company claimed that the country resumed gas supplies to Iran after a brief stoppage for repairs along a stretch of pipeline linking the two countries.
Iran buys almost a third of Turkmenistan 's exported gas, relying on it for heating in winter and using it year round to meet industrial demand in regions distant from the country's own fields clustered around the Persian Gulf.
Iranian imports of Turkmen gas averaged just over one billion cubic feet a day from July 2011 to June 2012, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, but imports are much higher in winter and lower in summer.
Iran has been importing natural gas from Turkmenistan since 1997. Western-imposed banking restrictions have made it difficult for Iran's suppliers and buyers to trade with Tehran.