An Iranian deputy oil minister said there has been an increase in market demands for Iran's natural gas.Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Javad Oji who heads the National Iranian Gas Company also added that several countries have already sent their requests for purchasing gas from Iran.
Oji said Pakistan intends to renew its contract increasing the amount from 23.5 million cubic meters to 30 million cubic meters. The new contract would be operational until 2014. Two other Persian Gulf states and one European country are also willing to sign contracts with Iran.
He said that Iran's gas exports to Iraqi power plants of Baghdad and al Mansouriya will also be done with 25 million cubic meters per day. With 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, Iran has the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia.
A 2010 report by Iran's Oil Ministry revealed that the country has discovered 13 new oil and gas fields with in-place reserves of 14 billion barrels of oil and 45 trillion cubic feet of natural gas between August 2009 and August 2010.
Several European states have also voiced interest in investment in Iran's energy sector after a gas deal was signed between Iran and Switzerland three years ago regardless of the US sanctions.
The National Iranian Gas Export Company and Switzerland's Elektrizitaetsgesellschaft Laufenburg signed a 25-year deal in March 2008 for the delivery of 5.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
The biggest recent deal, worth €100m ($147m, £80m), was signed by Steiner Prematechnik Gastec, the German engineering company, in 2009 to build equipment for three gas conversion plants in Iran.
Source: FNA