Iran, Russia Set To Promote Gas Co-op

Tehran, July 15, IRNA – Iran and Russia, as two main gas producers, are going to increase their cooperation in the gas sector, Managing-Director of National Iranian Gas Company (NIOC), Hamid-Reza Araqi said Monday. Araqi said that NIOC and Russiaˈs Gazprom are scheduled to set up a joint committee to explore ways to give a boost to bilateral and international cooperation. Iran and Russia have common interests and considering plans by both countries to increase their presence in international markets, they decided to enhance cooperation, Araqi said. British Petroleum (BP), one of the worldˈs largest oil and gas companies in terms of production, capacity and revenue, in its 2013 annual report, said Iranˈs reserves of natural gas showed an increase of 200 billion cubic meters (bcm) compared to the preceding year. The report put Iran with 33.8 trillion cubic meters (tcm) of reserves, as the worldˈs biggest holder of gas reserves for the second consecutive year. The report also put the worldˈs total proven gas reserves by the end of 2013 at 185.7 tcm which is estimated to meet global needs for natural gas over the next 55 years. In its 2012 report, the BP had estimated the worldˈs total proved natural gas reserves at 185.3 tcm. Russiaˈs gas reserves, which used to be the worldˈs largest for many years, rose to 31.3 tcm in 2013 from 31 tcm in 2012, according the BP report./end