TEHRAN – Georgia is negotiating with Iran to import natural gas from the country to feed its power plants, according to Ali-Reza Kameli, the managing director of the National Iranian Gas Exports Company. 

Kameli said Armenia is likely to transit Iran’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Georgia, since, he added, Georgia is planning to import the gas for domestic use and would not transit it to Europe, IRNA reported on Monday.

Iran’s daily gas export to Georgia is estimated at 300-500 million cubic feet (8.5-14 million cubic meters), the official said.

Currently, Iran exports gas to Turkey, barters with Armenian electricity, and swaps with Azerbaijan, and will start exports to Iraq in the near future.

In December, Georgian Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze said Georgia is ready to start talks with Iran both in natural gas and electricity sectors.

According to the Georgian media, the country is going to start exporting water to Iran soon, with Iran providing gas to Georgia in return. 

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has said Iran plans to boost its share of the global gas trade from currently one percent by tenfold to reach ten percent. 

Zanganeh said Iran attaches priority to neighboring countries for exporting natural gas. 

Iran now produces about 600 million cubic meters of gas on average per day. 

Iran also aims to nearly double gas production to reach one billion cubic meters (bcm) per day in less than two and a half years. 

With its 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, Iran has the biggest gas reserves in the world. 

SJ/