Iran plans increase its natural gas exports as a
way to diminish its reliance on crude sales, a senior Iranian Oil Ministry
official said.
Iran will “witness a change in the revenues of the country
from crude oil to natural gas,” said Javad Owji, managing director of National
Iranian Gas Co., according to the state-run Mehr news agency. Owji, who didn’t
specify how much Iran earns from oil and gas sales separately, pointed to the
country’s goal to triple gas shipments to some of its neighbors.
“By signing new deals with Turkey and Iraq, Iran
will increase natural gas exports to about 100 million cubic meters by next
year from a current 35 million,” Owji said. Iran’s gas exports total 10 billion
cubic meters per year, he said.
Iran, one of the producers of the 12-member
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is battling U.S. and European
Union energy sanctions over its nuclear program that have limited its oil
sales. The Persian Gulf country also holds the world’s second-largest gas
reserves and its gas industry isn’t subject to the same restrictions.
Iran exports some 30 million cubic meters of
natural gas per day to Turkey, earning more than $3 billion annually, Owji
said. He said in September that Iran plans to start supplying 25 million cubic
meters of gas per day to Iraq within a year, via a pipeline being built.
Iran has also pushed ahead with plans to deliver
gas to Pakistan. Last month, the two countries started work on the cross-border
leg of a $1.3 billion gas pipeline that will deliver 21.5 million cubic meters
of gas a day to Pakistan for 25 years.