Energy powers Iran and Turkmenistan agreed to increase co-operation in the gas sector on Saturday, Iranian media reported during an official visit by Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to Tehran. Berdymukhamedov said Turkmenistan, Central Asia's biggest gas producer, wanted neighbouring Iran to help in developing new gas resources in his country and in building a new gas pipeline, Iranian state radio said.
Last winter, Iran suffered natural gas shortages when Turkmenistan halted gas exports of up to 23 million cubic metres a day to the Islamic Republic, citing technical problems. Turkmen exports to Iran resumed in April.
Iran sits atop the world's second-largest natural gas reserves after Russia, but international sanctions imposed on Tehran over its disputed nuclear activities and other issues have slowed development of its own gas exports.
Turkmenistan "would like to take advantage of Iran's co-operation in the exploitation of new gas resources, estimated at 14 trillion cubic meters, as well as the construction of a new gas pipeline," the radio quoted Berdymukhamedov as saying.
He was speaking at a joint news conference with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari and Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister Tachberdy Tagiyev signed an agreement on gas co-operation, the official IRNA news agency said without giving details.
In January, a senior Iranian official said the two sides had agreed on the price Tehran would pay for natural gas it imports from its north-eastern neighbour for the next six months. Turkmenistan is seen as one of the key suppliers for the planned Nabucco pipeline from Turkey to Austria, designed to ease Europe's dependence on Russia for gas supplies.