Iran Not Yet Capable of Replacing Russian As Main Gas Suppler to Europe

Iran is not ready to replace Russia as a main gas supplier to Europe if sanctions are lifted, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said in an interview with Russian Rossiya 1 television, according to ITAR-TASS news agency.

Rouhani said that although Iran has the second largest gas deposits in the world, country’s output is much lower than what it should be so the priority is domestic demand.

“We have problems in the winter from time to time but then, you know, there are lots of customers around us, in the east and in the west,” he said, reported ITAR-TASS. “All our eastern, western and southern neighbours want to buy our gas which we will still have to extract.”

So the situation is not like what everybody thinks that if Russian gas supplies are halted tomorrow, Iran would supply the market with the same amount of gas, he said adding that country’s current gas output is not capable of meeting such demand.

Russia is at present Europe's largest gas supplier. With EU imposing sanctions on Moscow due to conflict with Ukraine, consumers in Europe are looking for alternate sources.

Iran is looking to build infrastructure that would facilitate gas exports to Europe in the future. According to Iranian energy officials, construction of Iran Gas Trunkline-9 (IGAT-9) will improve gas delivery in the west of the country and facilitate future gas exports to European countries.

IGAT-9 (known as Europe Gas Export Line), 1,800 meters long, originates in east of Assaluyeh and passes by western provinces of Khuzestan, Ilam, Kurdistan and Azerbaijan and reaches to Turkey’s border.