The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) can become a reliable route for supplying Iran’s gas to Europe, the head of the secretariat of the Azerbaijan-Iran intergovernmental commission for cooperation in the trade, economic and humanitarian spheres, Mehdi Mohtashami, said.
"Iran is examining various routes for supplying its gas to other countries, and TAP is one of those routes. We have already had preliminary talks with Azerbaijan and have done certain work in this regard," he noted. Iran has conducted research into the supply of its gas to Europe via Azerbaijan, Mohtashami explained.
“A month ago, the head of SOCAR (the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan), Rovnag Abdullayev, visited Tehran, where he had fruitful talks with Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh. In addition, Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister for International and Commercial Affairs, Amir Hossein Zamani, visited Azerbaijan. There were very good discussions on the Iranian gas supplies to Europe via Azerbaijan. Iran has one of the world’s largest gas reserves, therefore has interest in its exports,” Trend cited him as saying. He added that Iran is currently supplying gas to Turkey.
He also spoke about the possibility of investing jointly with Azerbaijan in the energy sector. “Both countries have many areas for cooperation in the oil and gas industry: gas supply through Iran to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Iran’s participation in the TANAP and TAP projects, cooperation in projects in the Caspian Sea, swap supplies, etc.,” Zanganeh noted. He also conveyed Iran’s desire to increase its share in the ‘Shah Deniz-2’ project, in which the Iranian company NICO holds a 10% share.
