Iran's oil minister said Sunday the price for Iran's gas imports from Turkmenistan was reduced by half in the Islamic republic's recent gas negotiations with the Central Asian country, the oil ministry's official Shana news web site reports Sunday.
"The gas price in this contract is half the previous price," Shana cites Gholam Hossein Nozari as saying.
Nozari said gas import negotiations with Turkmenistan have been "finalized" and the new price agreed on by both parties--$170 per thousand cubic meters--is half the price of the previous contract, reports Shana.
According to the new contract, Iran's gas imports from Turkmenistan are set to rise from 8 billion cubic meters a year to 14 billion cubic meters a year, Iran's oil minister added, according to Shana.
"For this purpose, a portion of gas produced by Turkmenistan's Dolatabad field has been allocated for Iran," Nozari said, reports Shana.
Iran's oil minister said each country needs to construct 60 kilometers of pipeline for the contract to be implemented, with 30 meters of pipeline to be in Turkmenistan and 30 meters of pipeline in Iran, Shana said.
A group of specialists from the National Iranian Gas Co. will travel to Turkmenistan Monday to determine the construction requirements for the pipeline along the border of the two countries, Nozari said, reports Shana.
"By importing gas from Turkmenistan, surplus gas in the east of the country will be allocated for (Iran's) northern regions," Shana cites Nozari as saying.