Iran Can Be Regional Gas Hub, Oil Minister Says

Iran can be turned into a gas hub in the region, Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has said.

It is possible to create a gas hub in Iran to act as a reference for pricing gas in the region, IRIB quoted Zanganeh as saying on November 23.

He made the remarks in a meeting with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak in Tehran.

"However, this issue is time-consuming," the minister said. "Moreover, software and 'brain-ware' prerequisites should be provided."

Moving toward short-term and single-consignment contracts is a must, because price changing is not possible in long-term contracts, Zanganeh added.

Earlier this month, on November 17, the minister said that Iran will be negotiating natural gas swap projects with Russia, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan.

"We are exporting gas nearly as much as we are importing," he said. "Of course, we need to import in the long run. But, we want to have mutual import and export with countries, like Turkmenistan, in order to buy from us goods in return for importing gas.

"Our priority is to export gas to the neighbouring countries. We are willing to export gas to Iraqi Kurdistan," he added.

Iran has deals with Oman, Pakistan and Turkey to export gas, while it swaps gas with Azerbaijan and barters gas with Armenia.