Iran has cut off its natural gas flow to Turkey on Wednesday morning due to their rising domestic demands, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.
Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hameneh told Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Guler on the phone that "their natural gas consumption has risen due to extreme cold weather in their country, and production
diminished," the report said.
Hameneh also noted that "the new refinery will start operating within ten days and therefore Iran cannot pump natural gas to Turkey".
Guler was quoted by Anatolia as saying that alternative scenarios have been put into practice against Iran's decision to halt natural gas flow to Turkey.
According to the Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Ministry, Iran has been pumping natural gas below the agreed amount since the beginning of December last year.
Iran was pumping 27 million cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey a day before December. This amount was reduced to 4 million cubic meters gradually in December.
(Xinhua News Agency, 03/01/2007)