TEHRAN – Iranian Oil Minister Javad Oji has traveled to Ankara on top of a senior delegation to negotiate the extension of a 25-year gas export deal between the two countries, Shana reported.

During his visit to the neighboring country, Oji held talks with Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Dönmez, the country’s Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati, the head of the Central Bank of Turkey, and the representatives of major companies active in the energy sector.

As reported, regarding the extension of the deal, the two sides have decided to form a working group to continue negotiations on the matter and determine the details of the new deal.

In this trip, they also discussed increasing the amount of Iran's gas exports to Turkey and building a new gas export pipeline to increase the capacity of gas transmission through this route.

The reduction of the import tariff on Iran’s petrochemical products was also another issue discussed during the talks.

Oji also invited major Turkish companies to invest in Iran’s upstream and downstream energy projects.

Iran has been supplying around 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Turkey under a 25-year agreement that was signed in 2001.

Back in July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that his country was planning to purchase more oil and gas from Iran amid greater energy needs and developing ties between the two countries.

Making the remarks in an interview with the state-owned broadcaster, TRT Haber, Erdogan said: "Turkey will increase its purchases of oil and natural gas from Iran", noting that the trade volume between Ankara and Tehran could reach $30 billion.”

Erdogan's announcement came a week after his meeting with his Iranian and Russian counterparts, Ebrahim Raisi and Vladimir Putin, in Tehran, in which Turkey and Iran signed eight memorandums of understanding (MOUs) and agreements in various fields including trade and investment.

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