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Turkish Energy Minister’s Visit To Iran Delayed
The Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler’s trip to Iran to firm up the energy deals between the two countries is expected to be delayed by two weeks until mid-September. A ministry source said, "Guler's trip to Tehran this week will not happen. An agreement was expected with Iran on this visit, but progress could not be made". Turkey and Iran failed to conclude the energy accords during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Turkey earlier this month. Washington, which is trying to pressure Tehran to give up its nuclear program, opposes the deal. Hilmi Guler signed last year a series of agreements with Iranian officials, including a preliminary accord on joint gas production and export, under which Iranian gas would be exported to Europe through Turkey and Turkey would produce 20.4 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the South Pars gas field. The investment would amount to $3.5 billion. Turkish sources say that the buy-back system proposed by Iran create serious risks for Turkey in terms of pricing. Turkey wants to buy the gas directly from the fields that it will operate and wants Iran to give a guarantee on contributing towards investments. Source: Hurriyet, Turkey, August 28, 2008
Posted at: 2008-08-28
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