Iran eyes natural gas exports to Europe

Iran is said to be weighing exporting natural gas to European countries through Turkey, its gateway to the continent, following a nuclear deal signed with world powers two months ago that has helped renew economic ties with countries that had imposed international sanctions on Tehran for the better part of the past decade.

Exporting gas to Europe is absolutely on Iran’s agenda, according to Abdolhossein Souri, a deputy head of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), whose comments were cited by the Tasnim news agency.

Souri added that although Iran’s immediate priority was to increase economic cooperation with regional countries — and that Tehran would soon start exporting gas to Iraq and Afghanistan — Europe was also seen as a potential market for natural gas.

Iran is said to have the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves but, following years of punishing sanctions, will require billions of dollars to revive its gas industry, including building pipelines to Europe, and undertake reforms to control domestic demand and rein in heavily subsidized energy prices, according to an August report in the Financial Times.

Iran, according to the report, faces several hurdles in bringing in Europe as a new market, including “a looming oversupply of liquefied natural gas; growing competition from other producer countries; demand weakness in the continent; and infrastructure troubles at home.”