Turkmenistan to start swap gas supplies to Azerbaijan in 2022

By Ayya Lmahamad

Under the trilateral agreement on the swap of gas supplies signed in November this year, Turkmenistan will start supplying gas to Azerbaijan via Iran from the turn of the year.

Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji made the relevant remarks, according to the Iranian media.

"The size of the swap contract is 1.2 to 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually, with which we can also use to help the stability of the natural gas network of the northern parts of the country in the cold season of the year," he said.

To recall, after a meeting with the Turkmen delegation led by Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov in October 2021, Iranian Oil Minister Javad Ovji announced Tehran's intention to pay the gas debt to Turkmenistan. It should be noted here that due to Iran's debt Turkmengaz has stopped gas deliveries to Iran since January 2017.

After the talks, during Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev's visit to Iran, an agreement was reached on the swap of gas supplies to Azerbaijan via Iran from Turkmenistan.

On November 28, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan signed a trilateral agreement on swapping gas supplies in Ashgabat. The signing ceremony took place in the presence of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi.

The agreement envisages deliveries of 1.5 to 2 billion cubic meters of gas each year, with Turkmenistan supplying gas to Iran and Iran delivering an equal quantity of gas to Azerbaijan. Thus, under the trilateral deal, Turkmenistan will sell 5-6 million cubic meters of gas per day to Azerbaijan. These volumes are expected to increase in the future.

Turkmenistan is the world's fifth-largest gas reserves according to OPEC and fourth-largest according to BP. Iran is firmly in second place in both rankings. Azerbaijan ranks 21st and 13th on these lists, respectively.