Iran is set to export natural gas to Kuwait, according to news site Zawya.
Commenting on the latest visit of Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah to Iran, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh added that Iran offered to start gas exports to the country.
The minister added that Kuwait has not responded yet.
He added that Iran has held no negotiations with Kuwait on development of Arash oilfield in the Gulf.
Commenting on measures taken by the Oil Ministry to resume oil swap with the Caspian Sea littoral states, Zanganeh said he has issued directives in this regard.
“The Oil Ministry intends to resume oil swap with an eye on safeguarding national interests,” he said.
The Caspian states have swapped more than 254 million barrels of oil with Iran in a 13-year period, which earned the country $880 million.
Earlier, Mahmoud Astaneh, a member of the Board of Directors of Naftiran Intertrade Company (NICO), said Iran has held talks with five international companies to resume oil swap.
Astaneh added that after holding preliminary talks with Swiss Vitol Group, the company announced its readiness to resume oil swap with Iran.
“Foreign companies and private sector firms have announced that to resume oil swap with Iran, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) must guarantee the continuity of the process,” he said.
“The Oil Ministry offers incentive packages to foreign and private sector companies, depending on the type and duration of their contracts.”
Hamid Reza Araqi, a deputy oil minister, said a European company has announced readiness to participate in the Shourijeh gas storage project.
He noted that the country’s gas refining capacity will surpass 600 mcm by March 20, 2015. Since April 21, gas injection and storage have begun at Shourijeh.
Stressing that by winter up to 7 mcm of natural gas will be injected into the facility, Araqi said the Oil Ministry intends to extract 10 mcm of gas from the storage facility.
Currently, the construction of Shourijeh’s processing units is underway in cooperation with a European company.
Araqi, who is also the managing director of NIOC, said in case the new phases of the South Pars Gas Field are launched by March 20, 2015, the country’s gas refining capacity will exceed 600 mcm per day.
“Since March 21, 2014, gas delivery to power plants has increased by 5.5 bcm, indicating a 40-percent rise compared with the corresponding figure of last year. This has reduced liquid fuel consumption by power plants,” he said.
