TEHRAN (Iran News) Seyed Mehdi Hosseini, former Director of International Affairs at the Ministry, told ILNA that Iran should focus on becoming a gas hub itself rather than allowing competitors to dominate markets in South Asia.

Hosseini recalled that even before Iran’s South Pars gas field came online, there had been proposals to transit Qatari gas overland through Iran to supply Pakistan and India, earning Iran transit fees. Another idea was to build an offshore pipeline in shallower coastal waters to deliver Qatari gas directly to India. At the time, Hosseini advised the proposing company to conduct seabed surveys and share the data before Iran could give its opinion. Despite studies suggesting the pipeline could be routed through Iran’s gentle coastal slopes, the idea was ultimately rejected.

Later, as Iran developed its own substantial gas reserves, the “Peace Pipeline” project was launched, aiming to export Iranian gas directly to Pakistan, which would then supply India. However, Hosseini said, the plan faltered under political pressure, particularly from Pakistan’s military leadership, and neither country ultimately received Iranian gas—missing an opportunity to establish southeastern Iran as a key gas hub.

“We spent billions of dollars building a pipeline to Pakistan’s border, but pricing disputes persisted,” Hosseini noted. Unlike oil, whose price is set on international exchanges, natural gas pricing is regional and highly localized, varying widely between markets. For instance, gas might cost $4 per cubic meter in the U.S., $8 in Europe, and $14 in Japan. In the Gulf region, India, and Pakistan, however, no standard regional price has been established. As a result, Iranian gas export projects often default to referencing the price set in the gas export contract to Turkey.

Hosseini recounted that when Turkey’s then-Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan visited Iran to finalize a gas deal, neither side knew how to set the price, and Iran ended up selling gas to Turkey at a relatively favorable rate—albeit without full awareness of its market impact. Ever since, attempts to export gas to India and Pakistan have faced accusations of “selling too cheaply” whenever prices undercut the Turkey contract. A similar dispute overshadowed Iran’s controversial gas deal with Crescent Petroleum.

According to Hosseini, Pakistani negotiators reasonably demanded that the price of Iranian gas match that of fuel oil, reflecting market realities. Yet despite completing the pipeline to Pakistan’s border, Iran has not been able to finalize pricing terms, leaving the pipeline idle.

Beyond the current gas supply imbalance—something Hosseini described as largely “artificial” and driven by sanctions and mismanagement—Iran still holds the world’s largest gas reserves. He argued Iran must base its export strategy on its own gas, rather than becoming a conduit for Russian or other foreign gas. “Russia is our competitor, and we should remember that,” Hosseini said. To address domestic imbalances, Iran could import Russian gas—similar to imports from Turkmenistan—to supply its northern regions, freeing up southern gas for export to key markets.

“We shouldn’t lose markets like India and Pakistan just to sell Russian gas, effectively helping Russia become the regional hub,” Hosseini warned. Instead, he suggested Iran buy part of Russia’s gas at rates similar to Turkmen gas, use it domestically in the north, and export its own southern gas—using the profits to invest in production and electricity generation.

In conclusion, Hosseini stressed the need for a clear, long-term policy: “Rather than handing our gas markets to others, we must pave the way to become a gas hub ourselves.”

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TEHRAN (Iran News) –Iran has renewed a contract with Iraq to export gas to its western neighbor for five more years.

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During his visit to the neighboring country, Oji held talks with Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Dönmez, the country’s Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati, the head of the Central Bank of Turkey, and the representatives of major companies active in the energy sector.

As reported, regarding the extension of the deal, the two sides have decided to form a working group to continue negotiations on the matter and determine the details of the new deal.

In this trip, they also discussed increasing the amount of Iran’s gas exports to Turkey and building a new gas export pipeline to increase the capacity of gas transmission through this route.

The reduction of the import tariff on Iran’s petrochemical products was also another issue discussed during the talks.

Oji also invited major Turkish companies to invest in Iran’s upstream and downstream energy projects.

Iran has been supplying around 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Turkey under a 25-year agreement that was signed in 2001.

Back in July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that his country was planning to purchase more oil and gas from Iran amid greater energy needs and developing ties between the two countries.

Making the remarks in an interview with the state-owned broadcaster, TRT Haber, Erdogan said: “Turkey will increase its purchases of oil and natural gas from Iran”, noting that the trade volume between Ankara and Tehran could reach $30 billion.”

Erdogan’s announcement came a week after his meeting with his Iranian and Russian counterparts, Ebrahim Raisi and Vladimir Putin, in Tehran, in which Turkey and Iran signed eight memorandums of understanding (MOUs) and agreements in various fields including trade and investment.

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Majid Chegeni made the remarks in a press conference held on the sidelines of the 26th International Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition of Iran (Iran Oil Show 2022) on Sunday.

The official also announced that the country has exported averagely 20 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas per day to Iraq in the past year, which is 35 mcm at the present.

“We also exported about nine mcm of gas to Turkey per day in the previous year”, he added.

Daily gas production up 45 mcm

The NIGC’s managing director also announced that Iran’s daily gas production increased 45 mcm in the past year.

He said that 98.4 percent of the cities in the country enjoy natural gas at the moment, which will reach 99 percent, and 85.4 percent of villages enjoy natural gas which will reach 89 percent.

The official put the number of cities and villages supplied with natural gas at 1,221, and 35,575, respectively, and said that gas is being supplied to 29 cities and 2,952 villages.

Chegeni put the number of subscribers at 28.5 million in the household sector, at 90,000 in industry sector, 60,000 in agriculture sector, and said that there are 2,280 CNG stations, 330 power plants, and 2,000 public units supplied with gas in the country.

He said that gas was supplied to six cities, 1,426 villages, 1,300 large industrial units, and 6,200 small industrial units in the previous year.

NIGC’s prioritized projects in this year

Elsewhere in his remarks, the managing director of National Iranian Gas Company referred to the priority projects of his company in 1401, and said “The main focus of the NIGC is to supply gas to deprived and remote areas, and in this year’s target, Sistan-Baluchestan, and Hormozgan province and the southern part of Kerman province have priority in gas supply.”

In recent days, the gas transferring pipeline to Zabol (in Sistan-Baluchestan) was put into operation and gas was injected in 220 kilometers of the pipeline. Also, projects related to southern Sistan-Baluchestan are underway, he added.

The 26th International Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition of Iran (Iran Oil Show 2022) kicked off at Tehran Permanent International Fairgrounds on Friday.

The motto of this year’s edition of the exhibit is “Knowledge-Based Oil, Iranian Production, and Global Export”.

The inauguration ceremony of the oil show was participated by Oil Minister Javad Oji, Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Managing Director Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr, senior officials of oil industry, and some MPs.

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“The current contract with Turkey is effective and exports to this country are ongoing while correspondence has been made to extend the contract,” Hassan Montazer Torbati told ILNA on Wednesday.

Many of Turkey’s gas contracts with other countries are in the final stages, all of which affect each other, Torbati noted, adding: “In any case, I think that given that we are going to offer part of our natural gas in the energy exchange, there is room for the development of contracts, whether through the NIGC and the Oil Ministry or private companies and in this regard the energy exchange can be a good space for future gas exports.”

The NIGC head further said that Turkey has made some changes in its energy import procedures and has somehow included the private sector in its gas contracts, In Iran, in addition to the Oil Ministry, the private sector may also enter the arena as well.

Regarding gas exports to Afghanistan, the official noted: “Exports to this country are also being pursued and we are mainly focused on regional companies and exports to cities near the border.”

“Exports to Afghanistan depend on communication and initial assurances by the two governments, but in any case, we try to export to this country through private sector companies,” Torbati added.

Iran is Turkey’s second-biggest supplier of natural gas after Russia. Tehran sells about 10 billion cubic meters a year of gas under a 25-year supply deal to Turkey which it uses for electricity generation.

The gas exports are carried out via a 2,577 km (1,601 miles) pipeline running from Tabriz to Ankara.

Turkey imported 7.7 billion cubic meters of gas from Iran in 2019 or some 17 percent of its total gas imports.

After the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions in November 2018, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear that his country would continue to buy natural gas from the Islamic Republic.

Natural gas exports from Iran to Turkey came to a halt on March 31, 2020, after an explosion and fire at a pipeline on the Turkish side of the border; the reasons for the blast were not officially announced.

Iran resumed gas exports to Turkey after a three-month hiatus.

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IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK

TEHRAN – Spokesman of the Petroleum Products Exporters Union Seyed Hamid Hosseini says Iraq realize that Iran needs gas export revenues to Iraq,  as the country is in critical condition and despite having money in the Iraqi bank accounts, it faces problem for paying $200m for the purchase of medicines.

Speaking to ILNA and on the possibility of losing the Iraq market due to decreasing gas to this country because of not paying its dues, Hosseini said that according to the agreement, Iran should deliver 50 million cubic meters of daily gas to Iraq, and it has fulfilled its obligation to date but when according to this agreement no money is paid, Iran can stop exporting.

He said by stopping export of gas to Iraq or reducing it, Iran will not lose the Iraq gas market because no country can export gas to this country, and regarding electricity, Iraq by getting gas from Iran produces 6500 megawatts of electricity and Iran itself provides Iraq wit exports 1200 megawatts of electricity while Iraq needs 20,000 megawatts of electricity. He noted irregardless of Iran, if any country like Turkey, Kuwait or Saudi Arabia connects to the power network of Iraq, it will not meet the needs of this country. He noted that the capital of Iraq, Baghdad, is connected to the electricity network for just 4 to 5 hours during the day and in the remaining ours of the day, generators provide power for Baghdad citizens, so Iran is not concerned about any rival.

Hosseini said that the total electricity production of Iraq is around 15,000 megawatts and if the country wants to focus on industry and develop it, its needs will rise, therefore, the country will be the purchaser of Iran gas and electricity for years.

He reiterated in case the money is not paid, it is natural to cut the export and it is an ordinary rule in trade, adding that when Iran, in the winter, needs gas and it does not get export revenues, it is natural to take such an action.

Hosseini said that to date, Iran has tolerated it and been ready to get his money in different forms but it has been in vain and now it has been forced to reduce or cut the gas export.

He added that Iraq should understand that Iran needs its money and despite having money in the bank account it cannot spend $200m for the purchase of medicines and when its money is blocked in Iraq, it will be to the benefit of neither Iraq nor Iran.

Hosseini said that now it seems Iraq has started some moves for paying its dues, expressing hope that during Iranian energy minister’s visit to Baghdad this problem would be resolved.

He noted that the main reason behind this problem is the U.S. sanctions and also since Iraq is currently under Chapter VI of the UN Charter is not in charge of its financial resources and all revenues of this country are first deposited in another account and then it is transferred to the account of the government. He noted that Iraq is concerned about the U.S. sanctions and halt in its forex revenues and for this reason it precautions.

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“If Nord Stream 2 remains unfinished, European benchmark TTF gas is expected to average about $4 per million British Thermal Units next year. But if the project can be completed as its backers hope early in 2021, then the average TTF price that year could drop to about $3, we estimate”, the report said, sputniknews.com wrote.

TTF, or Title Transfer Facility, refers to a benchmark price for gas in Europe based on a virtual trading exchange in the Netherlands.

Lower prices would mean higher gas consumption in Europe, in part because of coal to gas switching for power generation. But some of the increase in imports from Russia would come at the expense of US liquefied natural gas exporters, the report said.

Russian gas exports to Europe are expected to be about 176 billion cubic meters next year, up from 168 billion cubic meters this year. With Nord Stream 2, Russia’s exports next year could be about 27 billion cubic meters higher at 203 billion cubic meters, the report added.

Russian natural gas has been crucial to powering the European economy in the decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

However, the United States is eager to promote exports of liquefied natural gas to compete with Russia, according to US and European officials.

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