In a news that caused an uproar in Iranian circles, Tehran announced its intention to import gas from Russia, although - according to the latest statistics published in 2021 - it is the third largest gas producer in the world after America and Russia.

Russia is Iran's main competitor in the field of oil and gas, and it is reported that Tehran lost China, which was the destination for Iranian oil during the years of Western sanctions, after Beijing turned to buying Russian oil after Western sanctions against Russia.

However, at this point, Moscow appears to have preferred friendship over energy competition.

According to the report of the Iranian Ministry of Oil, the volume of gas produced by Russia, without specifying a destination for export, is estimated between 75 and 95 billion cubic meters. The Iranian Ministry of Oil considers in its report that this is a golden opportunity for Iran to import Russian gas through Turkmenistan.

It clarifies that the gas will be transported from Russia to Turkmenistan via a gas transmission line, and then to Iran using two transmission lines that support 20 billion cubic meters.

Ahmed Asadzadeh, Deputy International Affairs and Trade Minister for the Iranian Oil Minister, stated that there are talks for a tripartite cooperation between Iran and Russia with the Sultanate of Oman or Pakistan.

Russian gas

Although Iran owns 18% of the world's total gas reserves, and includes 22 refineries for this energy and produces one billion cubic meters per day, it announced that the country's gas consumption will be more than its production in the coming winter.

In this regard, university professor and expert in economic affairs Bahman Arman tells Al Jazeera Net that Iran has a shortage of gas production in winter with a volume of 200 million cubic meters, and it imports from Turkmenistan to make up for this shortfall, and adds that Tehran needs a large investment to bring Russian gas from northern Russia to the Iranian border, thousands of kilometers away.

On the other hand, Iranian agencies close to government and security agencies say that Tehran can buy Russian gas at an "appropriate price" and use it in the northern regions, and thus it will not have to transfer its gas from the south - that is, the place of its production - to the north, and then it will be able to export its gas in The south will have to pay a higher price to its neighbors such as Pakistan and Oman, or increase its gas exports to Iraq and Turkey.

However, economic expert Bahman Arman believes that Iran's import of gas from Russia and then exporting it is "nothing but a joke", and links this to the fact that gas is exported either through gas pipelines that Iran relies on to export its gas to Turkey and Iraq in small and limited scales, or gas transfer natural to liquefied gas.

He stresses that Iran and Russia do not possess this technology, in addition to the fact that the transfer of gas from Russia to Iran requires significant costs.

In this context, Arman referred to America’s role in this regard, as he said that Iran had established a 56-inch diameter pipeline to transport gas from Asalouyeh (southern Iran) to Pakistan, and this measurement is the largest possible volume of gas in the world, but America did not allow Pakistan to import gas. Iranian, adding that Tehran burns the gas that comes out with the extraction of oil in the waters of the Gulf and Khuzestan province.

Arman considered that Russia’s influence in Iran is very large, as Tehran was scheduled to manufacture a gas transmission line from Asalouyeh to the Bazargan border that separates Iran and Turkey, and then enters Turkey, but this line extended from Asalouyeh to Iranian Kurdistan only, and was not completed. The project is because Russia knows that Tehran has the largest natural gas reserves in the world and can compete with Moscow in the markets, according to him.

In this context, energy expert Hamid Reza Shakouhi - in his speech to Al Jazeera Net - believes that in the short term it is logical for Iran to import gas to fill the shortage it is facing, but in the long term it must invest in its gas fields and work to increase gas production and reduce consumption. And he explains that consumption is not only domestic, but there are policies that Iran must take to reduce gas consumption in factories and petrochemicals.

Although Iran announced that it will do the 14th phase of the "South Pars" gas field this year, my doubts rule out that it will be able to do so until the next winter season.

Impact of sanctions

The impact of sanctions in this regard cannot be avoided, as Arman says that for more than 3 decades, Iran has been trying to build gas liquefaction plants in the 11th phase of the "South Pars" field, but it was unable to do so, because very few companies own this technology and Iran has concluded a contract With the French company Total, but this company withdrew from implementing the agreement due to Western sanctions.

Arman added that Iran has not explored any gas, oil or iron ore fields since the revolution in 1979 until today, because it does not have the necessary technology, and all its fields were explored by American companies before the revolution.

He explains that in order to maintain the gas pressure in the "South Pars" field, i.e. 700 million cubic meters per day, Iran needs to invest 80 billion dollars, and it does not have the technology and was unable to obtain it due to sanctions and its crisis relations with the West.

He continues that after the Paris Treaty, which provides for reducing the spread of greenhouse gases, Iran decided to convert its natural gas in Khuzestan, which comes out with the extraction of oil, to liquefied gas, and used it in petrochemical companies, but because of the sanctions, Iranian companies were unable to import the necessary equipment, and it is still This billion-dollar gas is burning.

Bahman Arman said that Iran is compelled to import gas because of the sanctions, and "This is unfortunate that the country that has the largest natural gas reserves in the world is forced to import gas and that its steel plants stop working in the winter. and "Khuzestan steel", furnaces are used less than necessary."

In this regard, Choukhi points out that Iran lacks gas pressure increase platforms, and therefore it is unable to extract from the “Farzad” field joint with Saudi Arabia, and is also unable to activate the 11th phase of the “South Pars” field, because Total withdrew from the project. He also explained that Iran was importing this technology from the West because Russia and China also do not have it.

Iraq and Turkey

Turkey is one of the two main destinations for Iranian gas, and according to official Iranian sources, the volume of gas exported from Iran to Turkey increased by 11% during the first half of the current Iranian year compared to last year.

Tehran revealed talks between it and Ankara to extend the gas export agreement to Turkey, which will expire in 2026 after 25 years.

The former head of the National Gas Company of Iran, Hamid Reza Iraqi, ruled out that his country would be able to conclude a better agreement with Turkey.

It is likely that the volume of exported gas will remain between 7 and 9 billion cubic meters annually, as it was in previous years, attributing this to the country's need for gas.

On the other hand, Tehran announced talks with Afghanistan, Pakistan and Oman to export gas to those countries.

It is noteworthy that the agreement to export gas from Iran to the Sultanate of Oman was concluded in 2005, but was not implemented despite the passage of 18 years, and this agreement was for a period of 25 years, as it was supposed to start implementing it since 2008 with the export of 30 million cubic meters, and in 2012 it will reach 70 million meters cube.

One of the agreements that did not see the light was the gas export agreement to Pakistan and India.

In this context, Bahman Arman explains that the agreements that were between Iran and the UAE have been suspended, and the agreements with the Sultanate of Oman have never been implemented, stressing that the main export of Iranian gas is to Turkey and Iraq only, and adds that Ankara cannot import Iranian gas more than This size is because its economy is small.

As for Iraq, he says that Iran's western neighbor has announced that during the next three or four years it will no longer need Iranian gas because it has begun to expand its gas fields.

reserve and production

According to the Iranian Ministry of Oil, Iran's recoverable natural gas reserves are 34 trillion cubic meters, and according to the report of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Iran ranks second after Russia with reserves of 33.72 trillion cubic meters, and according to statistics from British Petroleum. Petroleum), it ranks first in the world with reserves of 33.5 trillion.

According to the Iranian government agency, IRNA, the volume of Russia's gas exports is 12 times that of Iran's gas exports in 2021, at a time when Russia owns 19.5% of the world's gas reserves, and Iran owns 17.3% of that reserve.

IRNA adds that Iran's gas consumption is equivalent to 42.2% of the total consumption of the European continent, which has a population of 748 million people, or equivalent to 48.4% of gas consumption in China, which has a population of 1.4 billion people.

Official sources say that Iran has gas pipelines with a length of 38,000 km, and that it exported 17 billion cubic meters of gas in 2021. They add that in the first half of the current Iranian year (1401), the volume of exported gas increased by 22% compared to the first half of the previous year.

According to the latest statistics of the National Iranian Gas Company, the daily consumption of natural gas in Iran last March amounted to 745 million cubic meters.