Iranian gas for Turkey awaits metering station

Turkey said yesterday that scheduled Iranian gas deliveries would not start before a metering station on the Iranian side was confirmed to have met technical requirements agreed under 23-year deal signed in 1996.

"The metering station, which has to be completed by the Iranian side and is a prerequisite to start gas deliveries, is not yet ready," Turkish Energy Minister Zeki Cakan said in a statement.

The minister's statement came after Iran's official news agency IRNA reported on Sunday that Iran would start gas deliveries to Turkey yesterday. Following the Turkish energy ministry's statement, Iran officials said they were ready to start gas deliveries.

"Iran has no operational, technical or legal problems in exporting gas to Turkey," IRNA news agency quoted Hamdollah Mohammad-Nejad, chairman of National Iranian Gas Co (NIGC), as saying. "Our gas is already available at the border station with 900 pounds per inch pressure and ready to be delivered to the Turkish side," he added.

A mission from Turkish state gas and pipeline firm Botas has been in Iran since July 25 to inspect whether the metering station had met contract standards. A second statement from the Turkish energy ministry said BOTAS officials had met representatives of NIGC yesterday.

"In the meeting on July 30 by BOTAS and NIGC representatives, the sides have agreed on the tasks to be completed by NIGC," the statement said, adding that Minister Cakan had also spoken to his Iranian counterpart yesterday.

Turkish and Iranian technical missions had to issue a conformity certificate to be able to start gas deliveries, the Turkish energy ministry said.

"Such a certificate has not yet been received by Turkish authorities. With the arrival of the certificate and accomplishment of other transactions, the gas deliveries between two countries will start," it said. "Under these circumstances, Turkish side will not pay any compensation to the Iranian side," the ministry statement said.

The deliveries were originally planned to start at the end of July, according to the agreement. Under the 23-year, $23 billion deal between Iran and Turkey, initial deliveries will be around 500 million cubic metres this year, rising gradually to 10 billion cubic metres a year from 2005, when the pipeline will start working at full capacity.

Gas will be pumped to Turkey's capital Ankara from Iran's Tabriz through a pipeline which stretches 270 kilometres on Iranian soil and 1,050 kilometres in Turkey.