World's Energy

4/14/09 - EurasiaNet - A Turkmen delegation has arrived in Iran to fix the price of their gas exports in the second half of 2009. The team, headed by the chairman of the state-owned Turkmengaz, Baymyrat Hojamuhammedov, will stay in Iran until April 18, the Russian newspaper Vremya reported April 14. Turkmenistan has been supplying gas to Iran since 1997, but exports have never hit the Korpeje-Kurt Kui pipeline’s full capacity of 8 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year, the report claims, adding that exports have not exceeded 6.5 bcm. Turkmenistan is contracted to send an additional 10 bcm to Iran in 2009. In mid-March, Iran and Russia signed a gas swap deal that would see Gazprom assume responsibility for the delivery of Turkmen gas to Iran. Ashgabat would benefit from this arrangement since Russia would purchase Turkmen gas at a premium price. Iran currently pays $140 per thousand cubic meters (tcm); Gazprom is willing to buy the same gas for re-export from Ashgabat for $240/tcm. The sweetener for Russia is access to natural gas supplies in Iran’s South Pars field, which holds an estimated 8 percent of the world’s natural gas reserves.