Despite numerous delays, Turkish Energy Minister Zeki Cakan announced Monday that there were no problems with his country's natural gas deal with Iran, reported the Turkish Daily News.
Answering the questions of reporters in Istanbul on Monday, Cakan said the studies on the metering station at the Iranian side had not yet been completed.
"When the certificate is signed, the natural gas will be bought. We don't have any problems regarding the natural gas to be bought from Iran. We have completed all of our obligations," Cakan said.
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zengene was quoted by the Iran Daily as saying that the Turkish side had not completed the necessary arrangements regarding the launch of the Turkish-Iranian gas project.
The flow of the gas, via a conduit from the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz to the Turkish capital Ankara, was supposed to start on Monday under a 1996 deal.
Turkey was originally supposed to start importing the gas in 1999, but failed to finish its part of the pipeline in time.
In January 2000 the two sides agreed on a postponement, citing July 30 as the new inauguration date and extending the contract term from 22 to 25 years.
Under the deal, Iran would initially supply three billion cubic meters (105 billion cubic feet) of gas a year and increase it gradually to 10 billion cubic meters in 2007 – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
