Iran is negotiating to resolve pricing issues for natural gas sales with several countries, according to Iran's state-run gas company's head.
Head of National Iranian Gas Exports Company, NIGEC, Alireza Kameli, said on Wednesday that there have been some preliminary agreements reached without any settlement on pricing.
'Once agreements are reached over pricing of the commodity, the most important issue in the talks is resolved and the other issues will be easily agreed upon,' Shana energy news agency reported the head of NIGEC saying but did not declare any specific countries.
Iran, which sits atop the second largest natural gas reserves worldwide, according to the Energy Information Administration, has limited gas exports and falls short of its potential due to the Western-imposed sanctions that hit the energy sector.
The EIA shows that Turkey is the biggest customer of Iran's natural gas and imports more than 90 percent of Iranian gas at around 10 billion cubic meters.
The country aims to heat up its energy sector by attracting foreign investment and increasing its trade. This prospect became more feasible with the increasing possibility of sanctions removal after an interim deal on its nuclear program was reached on April 2 with world powers.
Iran is trying to improve its gas fields to allow for higher production. These improvements are mainly on its share of the South Pars field which amounts to some 40 percent of its total reserves, based on EIA figures.
By Furkan Naci Top
Anadolu Agency
furkan.top@aa.com.tr