Iran imports gas from Azerbaijan to meet shortage

The supplies will be in addition to a daily 1.1 million cubic metres of Azeri gas deliveries for transit through Iran to another part of Azerbaijan, said Ebadollah Ghanbari, a spokesman for the National Iranian Gas Company.

He told ISNA the new gas imports from Azerbaijan started 20 days ago and were being used to meet a shortage in parts of northwestern Iran, while the country would pay the same price as that paid to Turkmenistan.

But Ghanbari said the supplies from Azerbaijan were not intended to replace deliveries from Turkmenistan, which stopped its daily exports of 23 million cubic metres to Iran in December at the height of the cold season, citing technical problems.

Iranian officials have suggested Turkmenistan's real aim was to raise the price of its gas and voiced anger at the cut, which led to criticism of the government in the north of Iran where supply shortages were felt.

Ghanbari said Turkmenistan had not as yet resumed its deliveries but that the NIGC was reviewing the Central Asian republic's new price proposals.

Despite having the world's second largest gas reserves after Russia, Iran has been unable to fully meet domestic demand and depends on imports to do so. Analysts blame the sector's slow development on politics, sanctions and construction delays.

/Guardian Unlimited/