Iran sees Bulgaria as new energy market
Iranian investors are evaluating construction of a petrochemical plant in Bulgaria, while Tehran has willingness to export oil and gas to that country, Iran's Ambassador to Sofia Abdollah Noori said.
He added that Iran's cross-country gas grid is well-developed and it has been stretched to Turkey’s borders, IRNA quoted Noori as saying July 7.
“So now, only Bulgaria's decision and signing a certain memorandum of understanding remain for further steps towards realization of Iran’s gas export to that country,” he said.
Noori added that the Iranian gas has better quality than the Russian gas.
The proposal to export oil and gas to Bulgaria came a week after Iran announced that it shipped two million barrels of oil to Poland.
Iran has been attempting to resume oil exports to the EU since the elimination of sanctions in January 2016. During the pre-sanctions era, Iran was exporting 800,000 barrels per day of crude oil and condensate to the EU. Currently, the volume is about 350,000 barrels per day.
Iran is also in talks with Greece to resume oil exports.
Noori didn’t elaborate how Iran is able to deliver gas to Bulgaria.
Iran has a little spare capacity in the pipeline that delivers gas to Turkey, but for significant amount of gas export, Tehran has to construct a $6-billion worth cross country pipeline (IGAT9), designed a decade ago, the construction of which hasn’t started yet.
Construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), aimed at transporting Azerbaijani gas to Turkey and the EU, is underway in Turkey. However, Iran hasn’t yet negotiated joining the project as a gas supplier.
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