Turkey boosts gas import from Iran

Turkey's government stressed the importance of the country's energy ties with Tehran, and announced that the volume of its gas import from Iran increased by 7% in the first six months of the current year, Trend reports.

"Iran is Turkey's very important gas supplier," Head of the Turkish Parliament's Energy Committee Mahmut Mucahit Findikli said. He also added that the PKK attacks "would have zero influence on Ankara's energy policy towards Iran". "There is no reason to dismiss Iran's importance in our energy policy. We need this door - not only for Turkey's energy security, but for Europe's, as well," he said.

Iran exported a daily average of more than 30 million cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey in 2010, which increased around 7 percent the first half of 2011.

According to the report of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), Iran's gas export to neighboring Turkey climbed by 50 percent in 2010 compared to the previous year, and by 100 percent in comparison with the 2008 figures.