TEHRAN National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) and the Turkmen Ministry of Oil and Gas Industry and Mineral Resources agreed Iran to increase gas imports from Turkmenistan in 2001 by up to 13 billion cubic meters, a Russian news agency said.

According to the ITAR-TASS, Iran's request in a meeting held in Ashkhabad was discussed between the official experts of the two sides.

The Turkmen ministry said that more than six billion cubic meters of gas have been sold to Iran since December 1997 since the joint Korpedzhe-Kurt Kui gas pipeline was built, including 2.7 billion cubic meters in 2000.

Under the sale agreement signed for 25 years, Turkmenistan will supply six billion cubic meters of gas to Iran in 2001 at a price of 40 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters.

Iran needs more gas to fuel its power plants and industrial enterprises in the north and provide the population with gas.

The two sides discussed ways to bring the gas pipeline's operation to full capacity of eight billion cubic meters a year.

According to the agreement, this is expected to happen in 2002. In the future, the two countries plan to increase the pipeline's capacity to 13 billion cubic meters a year.

The Turkmen-Iranian negotiations will continue in the near future at a higher level. They should lead to the signing of a commercial agreement.