Iran Resumes Gas Exports to Turkey
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran has restarted the export of its natural gas to the neighboring Turkey after six days of halt caused by an explosion that hit the pipeline a week ago, an Iranian official said.
National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Dispatching Director Manouchehr Taheri announced that Iran has resumed the gas exports since Sunday night after the pipeline was repaired and Turkish company Botas Petroleum Pipeline Corporation expressed its preparedness to receive Iran's gas.
20 million cubic meters of natural gas is now being exported to Turkey, Taheri added.
Last Monday, the explosion hit the Iran-Turkey natural gas pipeline in the eastern Turkish province of Agri. Iran stopped gas flow to the country immediately after being informed of the incident.
The suspected sabotage attack took place in the Dogubeyazit district, some 15 kilometers from the border with Iran.
No one claimed responsibility for the blast, but some local media said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was behind the attack.
The PKK has increased its operations inside the Turkish soil after Ankara's air force attacked the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) positions in Syria and Kurdish PKK militants in Northern Iraq last few days.
