Tehran to start discussion with Ankara on renewing gas export deal: NIGC

“The discovery of the new gas field in the Black Sea has no effect on our contract and the discovered reserve is not significant compared to Turkey’s demand. We will start negotiations to renew the contract in the near future,” Montazer-Torbati said, according to IRNA.

“Gas exports to Turkey are ongoing based on the current agreement,” the official added.

He also pointed to a plan to export gas to Afghanistan, saying that the initial plan is ready.

Iran has long been one of the most important energy suppliers to Turkey, and the two countries already have a 25-year gas supply contract.

Recently, however, the news of a gas field discovery in the Black Sea, as well as new developments in Turkey’s energy geopolitics, have caused some speculations about the future of energy cooperation between the two neighbors, and some claim that Turkey will not need Iranian gas in the future.

Iran is Turkey’s second largest supplier of natural gas, after Russia. Tehran sells about 10 billion cubic meters a year of gas under a 25-year supply deal to Turkey, which it uses for electricity generation.

The gas exports are carried out via a 2,577-km pipeline running from Tabriz to Ankara.

Turkey imported 7.7 billion cubic meters of gas from Iran in 2019, or some 17 percent of its total gas imports.

After the reimposition of US sanctions in November 2018, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear that his country would continue to buy natural gas from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Natural gas exports from Iran to Turkey came to a halt on March 31 after an explosion and fire at a pipeline on the Turkish side of the border.

Iran resumed gas exports to Turkey after a three-month hiatus.