Western sanctioned Iran and Russia are negotiating a gas and oil swap according to officials from both countries. Russian Deputy PM Alexander Novak on 6 October told Interfax that the deal may “initially” entail exchanging 10bcm/y of natural gas and some 5mn tons of oil with Moscow hoping to secure the deal by year-end. Iranian oil minister Javad Owji, also speaking at last week’s Caspian Economic Forum (CEF) in Moscow, puts the figures higher at 15bcm/y and 10mn tons of oil according to IRNA.
Such a deal would involve ‘Russian’ volumes being supplied to northern Iran, allowing Iran in theory to export more domestically-produced oil and gas. ‘Russian’ because, with the two counties not sharing a land border, a third intermediary, either Azerbaijan or Turkmenistan would need to sign up for any gas deliveries to take place. (CONTINUED - 210 WORDS)