Middle Eastern state plans major Russian gas purchase

Imports of gas by Iran will be part of an energy alliance with Moscow

Iran’s s Ministry of Petroleum announced on Monday that Tehran will soon be importing nine million cubic meters of Russian gas daily, through Azerbaijan.

According to Fars News Agency, the plan was unveiled in a report providing details of a $40-billion deal between the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and Russia’s state-owned gas producer Gazprom, reached in July.

The country’s oil ministry has also reportedly stated it will be getting, under a swap deal, six million cubic meters of gas a day from Russia. The gas will then be exported to other countries from southern Iran in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

READ MORE: Russia and Iran move to create global gas cartel – media

The deal also includes the completion of gas pipelines from Iran to Pakistan and to Oman, and of a number of LNG production projects in the country.

Last month, OilPrice reported that Moscow and Tehran had been taking serious steps toward forming an OPEC-style alliance for natural gas that would allow them to coordinate an ‘extraordinary’ proportion of reserves, as well as control over prices.

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