Bahrain will soon take "practical steps" to import natural gas from Iran, state news agency Irna reported late Tuesday.
Bahrain is "scheduled to meet with an Iranian technical delegation" to reach an agreement on importing gas to the Persian Gulf state, Irna quoted Abdul Hussain bin Ali Mirza, minister of state and chairman of the National Oil and Gas Authority, as saying.
Bahrain is also interested in joint investments in Iranian gas fields and will "review practical plans in this respect including drawing up the route for laying a pipeline," Mirza said, according to Irna.
If all goes according to plan, Bahrain could be receiving shipments of Iranian natural gas as early as 2012 via a subsea pipeline in the Persian Gulf, Mirza said, Irna reported.
In September, Mirza said that talks between representatives on the joint Bahraini-Iranian technical committee, which was established to implement the project, should be completed within a year, with the laying of the pipelines linking the two countries expected to take another three or four years.
Iran holds the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia. The Islamic republic is also involved in negotiations with U.A.E.-based Crescent Petroleum over piping gas to Sharjah, a deal that so far has failed to materialize due to price disagreements.