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'Turkmenistan not to be trusted'



By Upstream staff 

An Iranian official said today that Tehran may review its energy ties with Turkmenistan after the country cut gas exports to the Islamic Republic last month, adding that Ashgabat could "not be trusted".

Turkmenistan halted deliveries of up to 23 million cubic metres of gas per day to Iran in late December, citing technical problems. Iranian officials said Turkmenistan wants to raise the price of its gas and have voiced increasing anger at the cut.

Iran, struggling with some of its coldest weather in decades, has subsequently halted its own natural gas exports to Turkey.

"This immoral behaviour by Turkmenistan has created problems for us and Turkey," Ebadollah Ghanbari, head of the public relations at Iran's national gas company, told Reuters.

"Surely Turkmenistan showed that it cannot be trusted and surely Iran, I feel, will review its trade activities with Turkmenistan, at least at its energy sector. We do not trust Turkmenistan anymore," she added.

Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said on 13 January that Iran might consider stopping buying Turkmen gas altogether if supplies did not resume.

Iran said Turkmenistan must resume gas exports before Tehran would be prepared to enter price talks with Ashgabat.

Despite sitting on the world's second largest gas reserves after Russia, analysts said Iran has been slow to develop the sector due to sanctions, politics and construction delays.


Wednesday, 23 January, 2008, 09:32 GMT  | last updated: Wednesday, 23 January, 2008, 10:54 GMT

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