Trend News Agency: LNG Option for Iranian Gas Export to EU

During his visit to Germany Iran's oil minister said that exporting gas through Turkey to the EU is not Iran's priority.

Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on May 7 that "gas prices were too low in Europe and transporting gas there from Iran faces legal obstacles and costly fees. For example, if Iran wanted to export gas to Europe, it would likely go through Turkey, where it could be subject to transit fees".

During last month, as hopes for elimination of sanctions imposed on Iran have risen due to progress in the nuclear talks, estimations of joining Iranian gas to the Trans Anatolian Pipeline to be delivered to EU by Trans Adriatic pipeline were lauded.

Iran possesses 33.8 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves, making it number one in the world, while the country wants to increase gas production from current 660 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) to about 1,100 mcm/d by 2019.

However, Zanganeh said, "Another option for Iran’s gas export to EU is liquefying it and exporting by ship. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is the most suitable option to sell gas to Europe", adding that this option won’t be available for another three years. MORE