Iran is set to sign an agreement with Iraq in the next Iranian calendar year to supply natural gas to the Iraqi southern city of Basra, according to National Iranian Gas Exports Company’s Managing Director Alireza Kameli.
The next Iranian calendar year will begin on March 21, 2015.
Kameli said Iran will start export of natural gas to Basra one year after signing the agreement, the Shana News Agency reported.
According to the deal, Iran would pump 5 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas per day to the Iraqi city, the official said, adding that the figure is planned to rise to 30 mcm within 6 years.
Meanwhile, Iran plans to start natural gas exports to Baghdad in May on the condition of security stability in the Iraqi capital, Kameli added.
He said based on the agreement signed between Tehran and Baghdad on July 2, 2013, 4 mcm per day of Iran’s natural gas will be delivered to Iraq in the first phase, but the pipeline will finally carry 35 mcm of gas per day to Iraq.
According to National Iranian Gas Company’s Managing Director Hamidreza Araqi, the infrastructure needed for pumping Iran’s natural gas to Iraq will be ready by late April.
The 270-kilometer pipeline stretches from the village of Charmaleh, located in Iran’s western province of Kermanshah, into the town of Naft Shahr on the border with Iraq.
