“Sputnik” with reference to Azerbaijan’s news outlet Report informs that National Iranian Gas Company Director and Iranian deputy oil minister Hamid Reza Araqi said on 24 October that Iran is not keen on exporting Turkmen gas to Turkey through via swap operations.
Deputy oil minister emphasized that the decision by Iran will not apply to Azerbaijan and Turkmen gas will continue to be transported to Azerbaijan via Iran.
It should be emphasized that Turkmenistan is interested in joining the Trans-Anatolian gas pipelines project (TANAP), which will supply gas from Azerbaijan to Europe. For this a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan needs to be constructed on the bottom of the Caspian Sea or gas should be supplied to the gas pipeline.
In late 2016 a dispute broke out between Iran and Turkmenistan after “Turkmengas” demanded that the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) should pay its debt in the amount of $1,8 to 2 billion.
Iranian media outlets reported that after lengthy negotiations the sides had reached a mutual agreement.Despite this, on 1 January 2017 Turkmenistan stopped gas supplies to Iran.
On 20 October 2017 Armenia’s Minister of Energy Infrastructure and Natural Resources Ashot Manukyan stated that Armenia offered to become an intermediary in resolving debt obligations between Iran and Turkmenistan.