WSJ: Diplomatic Thaw Piques Interest in Iranian Gas

A diplomatic thaw between Iran and the West is raising the prospects of an eventual flood of Iranian oil into already-sated global markets, weighing on prices in recent weeks.

But Iran’s prodigious natural-gas reserves may also, someday, start to reshape global energy markets, should Tehran reach a definitive deal with the U.S. and other Western powers which resulted in the easing of sanctions.

Iran holds the world’s second-largest gas reserves, behind only Russia. It is the world’s third biggest gas producer, behind Russia and the U.S. But because the Islamic Republic has been slow to develop infrastructure and has been hobbled for years by international sanctions, exports are still tiny—just 9 billion cubic meters a year. That ranks Iran 23rd in the world, behind Brunei, according to 2013 data, the most recent available. Most of that goes to a single customer: Turkey. MORE