Speaking among reporters on the sidelines of the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Owji stated that his ministry received about €1 billion of Iraq’s debt to Iran for gas import last year in 1400 (ended March 20, 2022).

Iran has also received about €1.6 billion of Iraq’s arrears for its gas export to this country in the current year in 1401 (to end March 20, 2023), the oil minister added.

The Oil Ministry in the 13th government under President Raisi has so far used all its potential and capabilities in materializing most objectives of this industry, he emphasized.

In addition, the Oil Ministry in the 13th government has taken giant strides with strong energy diplomacy and managed to conclude oil sales contracts with many countries of the world including the Latin American states, the minister noted.

Turning to the export of gas to neighboring Iraq, the oil minister stressed that Iran’s gas export volume to Iraq has increased by 1.5 billion cubic meters more in the current year as compared to the last year in 2021.

Meanwhile Oil Ministry opened a first independent office in Iraq amid plans between the two neighboring countries to boost their bilateral energy cooperation.

Oil Ministry’s special envoy to Iraq Seyyed Abbas Beheshti said on Tuesday that the mission will help facilitate the implementation of joint energy projects between Iran and Iraq.

“This office was opened in the city of Baghdad for the purpose of promoting cooperation and synergy, especially in the implementation of joint oil, gas and energy projects between the two brotherly countries,” said Beheshti.

He said that two other Iranian Oil Ministry missions will open in oil-rich regions of Basra in the south and in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq.

The announcement came on the day Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani paid a first official visit to Tehran to hold high-level talks with senior Iranian government officials.

President Ebrahim Raisi said after a meeting with Sudani on Tuesday that the two countries will expand their energy cooperation in the near future.

Iran is a major supplier of natural gas to Iraqi power plants while it also provides electricity to the Arab country to help it meet its growing demand for power.

Iraq has secured waivers from US sanctions on Iran to be able to import energy from its eastern neighbor.

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Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Hemmati elaborated on the agreement between Iran and South Korea on the transfer of Iran’s assets, saying Korea has called for negotiations.

If South Korea does not pay Iran’s debt, Iran will initiate proceedings with international justice, he said.

He hailed the current atmosphere, saying extensive talks have been held with Oman, Japan, Iraq, and South Korea

Earlier, in an interview with Bloomberg held in January, Hemmati said South Korean officials promise to release Iranian assets but take no practical steps to pay arrears to Iran because of US sanctions.

last Monday,  The Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnaser Hemmati met with the South Korean Ambassador to Tehran Ryu Jeong-Hyun to discuss the details regarding the transfer of Iranian frozen assets in the Asian country.

In the meeting with Choi, Hemmati called on the South Korean government to take an independent approach towards the issue of releasing Iran’s resources in the country, saying: “Seven billion dollars belonging to the Iranian nation has been blocked in South Korean banks for more than two years, this is unacceptable and Iran definitely will not be indifferent towards this issue.”

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