World's Energy

02-16-2009 - Upstream OnLine - Turkmenistan will export 10 billion cubic metres of gas per year from the Bolutun field to Iran, which in turn will help develop the field, under the terms of a new deal struck by the pair. The two energy powers, whose ties were strained last winter after Turkmenistan halted gas sales to Iran, agreed to boost co-operation during an official visit by Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to Tehran over the weekend. Under the deal, Iranian companies would develop the Bolutun gas field in Turkmenistan and in exchange gas from the field would be exported to the Islamic Republic, Iran's official IRNA news agency said. "According to this agreement 10 billion cubic metres of gas will be exported to Iran per year from the Bolutun gas field," Iran's Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari told the news agency. He told IRNA the two sides had yet to reach a final agreement on the price of the exported gas, giving no details on when the accord would take effect and gas exports start. Iranian radio earlier quoted Berdymukhamedov as saying Turkmenistan wanted Iran to help in developing new gas resources in his country and in building a new gas pipeline. Last winter, Iran suffered natural gas shortages when Turkmenistan halted gas exports of up to 23 MMcmd to the Islamic Republic, citing technical problems. Turkmen exports to Iran resumed in April. Turkmenistan "would like to take advantage of Iran's co-operation in the exploitation of new gas resources, estimated at 14 trillion cubic metres, as well as the construction of a new gas pipeline," the radio quoted Berdymukhamedov as saying. He was speaking at a joint news conference with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Nozari and Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister Tachberdy Tagiyev signed a pact on gas co-operation, Reuters quoted IRNA as saying. In January, a senior Iranian official said the two sides had agreed on the price Tehran would pay for natural gas it imports from its north-eastern neighbour for the next six months.