TEHRAN, April 19: Iran would accept a “logical increase” in the price of natural gas imported from neighbouring Turkmenistan, a senior energy official was quoted as saying on Saturday.

Turkmenistan halted its gas deliveries of up to 23 million cubic metres a day to Iran in late December, citing technical issues.

Iran says the real aim was to raise the price.

“If Turkmenistan wants a logical increase in the price of gas it is okay with Iran because this country is selling its gas to Russia with a new price,” the Fars News Agency quoted Ali Kordan, vice-minister at Iran’s Oil Ministry, as saying.

Turkmenistan sells most of its gas to Russia’s gas export monopoly Gazprom.

In early April, another Iranian energy official said negotiations between Iran and Turkmenistan were continuing and that he believed the gas imports from Turkmenistan would soon resume.

Iran sits on the world’s second-largest gas reserves but has been slow to develop them.—Reuters