TEHRAN, Feb. 20 (Shana) – Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh left Tehran for Baghdad on Monday as the head of a delegation to Iraq .
The visit is being made as a follow-up on last month’s visit of another Iranian delegation to neighboring Iraq for discussing details of two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between the oil ministers of the two countries.
The first document concerns joint development of Parviz (Southern Naftkhaneh) and Khorramshahr (Sandbad or Sibeh) oilfields.
The second deal includes cooperation in various petroleum industry sectors like crude oil trade, manufacture of equipment, natural gas export, renovation of Iraqi refineries by Iranian private companies and training.
Iran is ready to send its gas to Iraq which is prepared to receive gas from Iran, too, said Deputy Petroleum Minister for International Affairs and Trading Amir Hossein Zamaninia last month.
However, he said, the required letters of credit for the transaction have not been opened yet.
Zamaninia further said once financial issues are settled between the two neighbors, Iran will start its gas flow to Iraq.
Iran’s gas will go to the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Basra.
Gas exports to Baghdad will start with a daily volume of 4 mcm which could increase to 35 mcm/d.
Gas delivery to Basra would come from Iran Gas Trunkline VI (IGAT 6) which transfers gas from the giant offshore South Pars gas field in southern Iran to the border province of Khuzestan.
Part of the gas to Iraq will be used for generation of gas to address some of the country’s electricity troubles.
Iraq is facing serious load-shedding and Iranian companies are operating 33 megaprojects, worth $1.5 billion, in Iraq for the time being.
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