April 06, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 28, 1429

TEHRAN, April 5 : A senior Iranian energy official expressed hope on Saturday Turkmen gas deliveries to the Islamic Republic would resume soon, more than three months after Turkmenistan halted the flow citing technical problems.

Reza Kasaizadeh, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company, said negotiations were still under way but gave no details of the talks.

Soon ... gas imports from that country will start, he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

Turkmenistan halted its gas deliveries of up to 23 million cu metres a day to Iran in late December, citing technical issues. Iran says the real aim was to raise the price.

Iran sits on the world’s second-largest gas reserves but has been slow to develop exports, partly because of U.S. sanctions.

It has imported some gas from Turkmenistan which mainly helps supply an area in north Iran far from the main national grid.

Iran previously asked Turkmenistan to let it pay in euros when supplies resume, part of a bid to reduce reliance on the US dollar because of U.S. sanctions. Tehran said Ashgabat had given provisional approval.

Shortly after Turkmen cut the supplies, in the depths of Iran’s coldest winter in decades, Iran accused Turkmenistan of an “immoral” act and warned it could stop buying supplies if they were not resumed.—Reuters