Turkmenistan seeks to increase the volume of natural gas it transits to other countries via Iran amid efforts by the Central Asian state to use growing relations with Iran as an opportunity to expand its energy exports.
Turkmen Foreign Minister Raşit Meredow said on Monday in Tehran that his country also wants to increase electricity exports to Iran for the purpose of transiting to other countries.
Meredow, who also serves as a vice-president, said that Ashgabat is planning to involve Iranian investors in its petrochemical projects, an idea he said could lead to better use of gas resources in Turkmenistan.
The remarks came during an 18th session of Iran-Turkmenistan intergovernmental committee meetings, where officials from the two countries explored avenues to strengthen their trade, energy, and transport cooperation.
Iran has signed several gas swap agreements with Turkmenistan in recent years to supply the equivalent of natural gas it imports from the country to Azerbaijan and Iraq.
Iran also imports nearly 2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity from Turkmenistan every year to respond to rising demand for power in its northeast.
However, it was announced in early March that Iran had reached a swap agreement for the delivery of Turkmenistan’s gas to Turkey.
The announcement came nearly a month after Meredow visited Tehran to meet with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad.
Reports at the time showed that Turkmenistan’s state-run gas company Turkmengas would use the idle capacity of an Iranian export pipeline to Turkey to supply up to 4 billion cubic meters per year of natural gas to the Turkish energy company BOTAS.