TEHRAN: Iran says it is preparing to triple gas exports to Armenia, start exports to Georgia and store its gas in Azerbaijan’s underground facilities. For now, Iran barters about 1mn m3/d of gas with Armenian power at 1 m3 per 3kWh. Iran said this week that the volume of the gas-to-power deal would reach 3mn m³/d by late 2018 at the improved rate of 1m3 per 3.2kWh.
On the other hand, the managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Ali Reza Kameli said August 1 that Iran has signed a deal with the Georgian International Energy Corporation to export 40mn m³ over a four-month period to test the feasibility of sealing a long term gas export agreement. He added that that the deal becomes operational once Armenia has issued the needed permissions by late 2016.
Georgia’s deputy energy minister Mariam Valishvili told Trend that the ministry has no information on the conclusion of contracts for the import of Iranian gas to the country. Valishvili added that the Georgian government has not concluded the contracts for such gas supply. “Theoretically, private companies can sign a contract like that,” she said. For now, Georgia receives more than 87% of its 2.5bn m3/yr demands from Azerbaijan (1.36bn m3/yr as commercial imports plus 5% of Azerbaijani gas transit to Turkey as fee) and takes 10% of Russian gas deliveries to Armenia as fee.
Iran also announced August 2 that it is willing to store its gas in Azerbaijan’s underground gas facilities. Azerbaijan has two gas storage facilities that can hold 5bn m3, of which a third is idle. For now, two countries swap about 1mn m3/d of gas, while Iran has a 10% share in Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas field. Iran’s sole commercial buyer is Turkey. According to official statistics, Iran increased deliveries to Turkey in five months of 2016, while Azerbaijan and Russia cut gas deliveries to this country.
