Russian firms have expressed interest in Irans gas development projects, as the giant Gazprom has recently signed the letter of intent with the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), a deputy oil minister state.
Iran welcomes Russian participation in the $2.5 billion construction of a pipeline known as IGAT-9 a 35 billion cubic meter per year pipeline that is planned to use to send gas from its giant South Pars field to Europe via Turkey.
"We are welcoming Russians participation in the project to build Irans IGAT-9 with $2.5 billion of investment," Hamin Reza Araghi said.
Araghi said Iran has raised gas production to about 700 million cubic meters per day, adding this capacity is expected to pass 1 billion cubic meters next year when new South Pars phases become operational.
"In tandem with the rise in production capacity, the countrys capacity for storage and transportation of gas must also increase," he said.
Araghi touched on plans to build more high-pressure gas pipelines and gas compressor stations, including the 1,900-kilometer trunk line to carry about 110 million cubic meters of gas per day from southern Iran to the countrys north for exports to Europe.
"The Russians can participate in the construction of this pipeline but NIGCs priority is to hold international tenders for the project," he added.
Gazprom and NIGC have already signed MoUs for building high-pressure units and gas storage facilities as well as for implementing joint projects in neighboring countries and marketing.
Iran with its 34 trillion cubic meters (tcm) of natural gas reserves, or around 18% of the worlds total, has the potential to become one of the top gas producers.
The country exports about 9 billion cubic meters of gas a year to Turkey and also swaps gas with Azerbaijan and with Armenia for electricity while it imports from Turkmenistan for use in its northern provinces.
