Iran urges SCO countries to approach energy issue responsibly

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

The member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) should be self-sufficient from the energy point of view, Co-chairman of the permanent Russian-Iranian commission for trade and economic cooperation, Iranian Minister for Communications and Information Technologies Mahmoud Vaezi said on June 1, RIA Novosti reported.

"Today, we must carefully consider the energy issue. Oil and gas producing countries and consumers should take a responsible approach to this. It is important that the SCO member states are self-sufficient in terms of energy," Vaezi said, speaking at the panel discussion on the SCO topic within the framework of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

The total volume of oil and gas condensate export from Iran averaged 2.8 million barrels per day in April 2017. In mid-April, as part of the development of the South Pars deposit, six new natural gas production projects were opened in the country. The total volume of production of gas at the field in connection with this increased to 570 million cubic meters per day. As planned, the gas produced at the field will be directed mainly to domestic consumption.

The SCO, established in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, conducts multilateral cooperation between the member states on national security, military, economy and culture.  

The SCO members now are China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

The territories of the six member states consist of 1.5 billion people, which equals to a quarter of the world's population. In addition to the six member states, the SCO has two new acceding members, India and Pakistan; four observer nations – Mongolia, Iran, Afghanistan and Belarus – and six dialogue partners, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal and Sri Lanka.