Iranian Ambassador to Baku said his country will soon conduct feasibility studies about transferring oil via Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline. Afshar Soleymani said an Azerbaijani delegation would soon arrive in Tehran to study this and other economic issues, including the export of Iran's gas to Azerbaijan. He said some projects are presently underway in the energy sector in both countries.
Saying that the delegation would soon leave Azerbaijan for Tehran, the Ambassador added that the export of Iran's gas to Georgia and EU via Azerbaijan is among other topics to be discussed during the meeting of the said delegation with Iranian officials.
Earlier an Iranian Power Ministry official said that Tehran explores prospective fields in the southern part of the Caspian and if any field is discovered the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) main export oil pipeline could be one of the variants for oil export. Mahmoud Khaqani, the head of the Department for CIS and Caspian Littoral States of the Iranian Power Ministry, told journalists in Baku last month that his country's option would depend on the efficient use of different systems for oil export, saying, "Iran studies different systems for crude export after it can take a resolution on the transportation via any of the routes."
Khaqani did not rule out that Iran could also use its own territory for oil pumping.