Zanganeh Says Draft Contract for Gas Exports to Armenia Ready

Tehran Times
13 April 2004

TEHRAN (PIN) — Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh stated that
a draft contract for gas exports to Armenia was ready.

He added that Iran’s exports to Armenia will start at 500m cu. m. and
could be increased up to 1.5b cu. m.

The minister further told Petroenergy Information Network that the
contract would soon be signed by Armenian officials.

Zanganeh noted that general talks had been carried out with Indian
companies for developing some Iranian fields and negotiations on LNG
exports from Iran to India would parallel those talks.

`If the talks prove fruitful, implementation of ensuing projects will
not take long,’ he said.

Zanganeh noted that setting a deadline by the Indian side was
pointless and new reports sometimes sought to affect the process of
negotiations.

Some news services had reported that a senior official of the Indian
ministry of petroleum had announced a four-month deadline for Iran.

Based on the deadline, if Iran wanted to export 5m tons natural gas to
India, it should give development of a big field to Indian companies.