Iranian gas exports to Turkey to resume by end-June: minister

Istanbul — Iranian gas exports to Turkey will resume by the end of this month, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said June 15.

Speaking at a press conference in Istanbul with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, Zarif said he had received assurances that repairs to the pipeline, which has been closed since March 31, will be completed and that gas flows will be reinstated.

Cavusoglu, who spoke at length on other bilateral issues, did not comment on the pipeline.

Flows through the Iran-Turkey gas pipeline were halted early March 31 following an explosion subsequently claimed as a sabotage attack by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK has attacked the pipeline on at least 11 previous occasions when repairs were completed within a few days, prompting speculation that Turkey was stalling repairs in order to pressure Iran to improve their terms under which Turkey imports gas, and to allow state gas importer Botas to import cheap spot LNG cargoes in place of Iranian gas.

Turkey's deputy energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar told a conference in Istanbul in February that Turkey planned to use the availability of cheap spot LNG to persuade its long-term gas suppliers to lower their prices.

Ten days ago Iran's NIGC said Tehran had rejected Ankara's claim that the explosion was a force majeure event, and that the company expected flow to be restarted on June 21 at the earliest.

Turkey imports gas from Iran under an agreement signed in 1996 for up to 10 Bcm/year, which began operation in 2001 and was later reduced to 9.6 Bcm/year.

Disagreements over the terms of the contract and frequent cuts in supply to due to problems in Iran have seen the two countries resort to international arbitration on at least two occasions.

The contract ends in July 2026 with Ankara expected to be unlikely to renew unless the terms are competitive with spot market LNG prices and offer flexibility to allow for future market fluctuations.