Turkmenistan Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov said his country will soon resume gas exports to Iran after the Central Asian state suspended supplies to neighboring Iran since Saturday, blaming it on technical and operational factors.
In a meeting with Iran’s Ambassador to Ashkhabad Mohammad Reza Forqani, he stated late Monday that technical operations are underway to resume gas exports as soon as possible.
The diplomat said that Turkmenistan does not want Iranian nationals to be inconvenienced due to the suspension of gas supplies, IRNA reported.
The reduction in supplies (since Sunday) followed by Monday’s complete stoppage has left a dozen Iranian cities without gas on the onset of wintry conditions.
Following the halt in supplies, some 11 cities in northern provinces were suffering from disruptions in gas supplies.
The nature of the cuts was not specified but provincial capitals Gorgan, Sari and Semnan were among the cities affected as well as other cities in Ardebil, Gilan, Golestan, East and West Azarbaijan provinces.
Northern and northwestern Iran are enduring a spate of cold weather, with snow as well as nighttime temperatures of -10 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Safari said in a phone talk between Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and his Turkmen counterpart, Meredov has acknowledged that the halt was due to technical problem in gas pressure station.
Safari further told IRIB that negotiations on the price of gas imported from Turkmenistan have nothing to do with suspending deliveries.
“Since 12 years ago that the gas deal signed between the two countries, the Turkmen side has tried to meet its commitments,“ he said. “The Turkmen side is in talks with Iran to change prices in view of global gas price hikes.“
Some Iranian media reports suggested Monday that the Central Asian country had stopped deliveries because it wanted to double the price of the gas.
Turkmenistan normally supplies five percent of Iran’s gas demand with 20-23 million cubic meters per day.
Also, head of Public Relations Department of the National Iranian Gas Company told Reuters Tuesday that Iran expects deliveries of natural gas from the neighboring country to be restored by the end of the week.
“Our prediction is that, by the end of the week, gas exports from Turkmenistan to Iran would be restored,“ said Ebadollah Ghanbari.
In a related development, Fars new agency quoted an informed source as saying Tuesday that Iran’s gas exports to Turkey has reached the minimum level because Turkmenistan’s halt of deliveries created gas shortage within the country.
“Based on commitment, about 20 million cubic meters of gas should be delivered to Turkey per day and these days the amount of gas delivered to that country has decreased to about 4 to 5 million cubic meters,“ the unnamed official said.

Lifespan of passenger trains currently stands at 25 years.

Modernization of the railways is one of the main objectives of Raja Passenger Train Company, announced the company’s managing director, Yousef Hojjat.
He said that the lifespan of passenger trains currently stands at 25 years and this should be reduced to 15.
The company, affiliated to Islamic Republic of Iran Railways, has signed agreements to purchase new trains.
Hojjat noted that the company acquired 20 trainsets (Pardis train) from Siemens Company, adding each trainset has six cars. “So far six trainsets are operating in Raja’s passenger fleet,“ he noted.
He referred to the purchase of 30 railbus trains from South Korea as another measure taken by the company to modernize the railways fleet.
He noted the first set of completely built imported trains will enter Iran’s railways fleet next month and the rest will be assembled in the country.
“They are the most modern trains used by the company and each set of the railbuses has 4 carriages,“ he said.
“We are on the verge of signing an agreement to purchase 220 grade 1 railway wagons from Italy,“ he said, noting a number of them will be imported in completely built form and the rest will be assembled at the Shahid Kolahdoz Complex.
Hojjat stated that the company has 1,600 carriages at present, pointing out that 800 will be added in four years.
Earlier Raja reported that some 500 cars will be in service of the national railway system by the closing year of Fourth Five-Year Economic Development Plan in 2010.
It added that the private sector has been tasked to manufacture 412 carriages by 2010.
Experts say low train fares have discouraged private companies from participating in rail projects. In Iran, some 80 million people travel by rail each year.

Government spokesman has said the budget bill for fiscal year 2008-09 will be submitted to the parliament next week.
Talking to reporters in his weekly press briefing on Tuesday, Gholamhossein Elham declined to elaborate on the bill, saying, “You should be patient and wait until next week for further details.“
Asked about the possibility that the bill may be rejected due to differences between the Majlis and the government on drafting procedures, he said the parliament would never dismiss it.
“Parliament will closely assess the bill and the government and Majlis will jointly finalize the most important document of the country.“
Turning to rise in consumer prices and inflation which exceeded 19 percent in the month to November 21, Elham stated that the Ahmadinejad administration is working on short- and long-term plans to bring prices down.
According to IRNA, the official said that the government had recently submitted a priority bill containing short-term solutions for checking runaway inflation.
He explained that the bill considered $1.2 billion for assisting those at the lower end of the economic ladder.
Recalling that the lawmakers turned down the urgency of the bill, Elham hoped that the Majlis would eventually approve the bill and give the government a chance to fight price hikes through short-term schemes.
He further stressed that reform in financial, banking and monetary systems is seriously being pursued by the government.
Asked about policies to control liquidity and why the government has refused to admit the adverse impact of liquidity on inflation, he observed liquidity is the engine of factories and production units.
“If we deprive trade and production sectors of liquidity, this would trigger problem. The main issue is management of monetary resources and liquidity.“
He alluded to a cabinet ratification to set up 14 economic zones in 14 cities on condition that they meet environmental criteria.
Special economic zones in Islamabad-e Gharb (Kermanshah province), Namin (Ardebil), Semnan, Mehran (Ilam), Imam Khomeini Port (Khuzestan), Noshahr Port (Mazandaran), Jazmourian and Rafsanjan (both in Kerman), Kashan (Isfahan province), Birjand (South Khorasan province), Rey (Tehran province) and Shahr-e Kord (Charmahal-Bakhtiari) will be launched after seeking view of the Department of Environment, he concluded.

Managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) said that the deadline for Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell to make its final investment decision (FID) on whether to invest in phases 13 and 14 of South Pars gas field development project is June 30 and this deadline will not be extended.
Ali Vakili told Fars news agency that Shell has not officially asked for a new deadline. Therefore, the deadline would remain valid, he added.
Shell has again delayed a decision on whether to press ahead with investments in Iran, as Europe’s largest energy company weighs up project costs and political opposition from the United States.
Shell will not now decide on the $10-billion project to exploit part of Iran’s vast South Pars gas field for at least a year, telegraph.co.uk said earlier.
According to Vakili, if June 30 passes, POGC would not give Shell officials a new timeframe.
The agreement to develop phases 13 and 14 of South Pars gas field was signed by National Iranian Oil Company, Shell and Spanish firm Repsol last February.
The project aims to produce three billion cubic feet of sour gas, transfer it to the refinery located at Pars Special Energy Economic Zone and process and separate about 110,000 cubic feet of gas liquids per day.
Meanwhile, Public Relations Office of National Iranian Gas Company disclosed that the second round of talks with Oman on investment in Asalouyeh gas projects would start in early January, PIN wrote.
The first round of the negotiations to involve Oman in Iran’s gas projects ended last week in Asalouyeh.
It is expected that talks between Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhussein Nozari and Omani experts would continue into the second half of January.

Interior minister has
supported the idea to relocate the capital out of Tehran.
Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, however, added that this is just a proposal but ’the financial cost of abandoning the 12-million-strong megapolis as capital outweighs its advantages’.
The minister explained that the proposal is one of the most significant to facilitate administrative affairs in the country, adding that various working groups in the administration have also assessed the issue, MNA reported.
“This is a positive idea since majority of the nations’ industrial and service units are centered in the sprawling megalopolis, creating many problems for fellow countrymen coming to the bustling city on administrative business.“
Asked to name the city proposed as the new Iranian capital, Pour-Mohammadi stated that some cities were suggested by past governments and now there are new proposals. “We will evaluate all the proposals,“ he said without naming any city.
Labor Minister Mohammad Jahromi said on December 23 the only solution for Tehran’s employment and housing woes is to move the seat of government out of the megapolis.
The minister told reporters, “I believe Tehran’s problems are rooted not just in the megalopolis itself but from other provinces including major and small cities as well as rural regions.“
Problems facing urban regions and rural districts pushing migrants into the capital should first be solved to help resolve Tehran’s unemployment headache, the minister was quoted by IRNA as saying.
Rural migration to Tehran in search of jobs increases the capital’s demand for job each year, he said, stressing, “I believe Tehran’s employment, housing, social and cultural pressure will not be relieved unless the capital, the largest city of Iran and Southwest Asia, is relocated.“
He noted that the proposal has been put on the agenda of the policy-setting High Housing Council.

Currently 38 varieties of flower are produced in the country.

Some $60 billion worth of flowers are exported annually worldwide of which Iran’s share is a meager $4 million, observed a member of the Board of Directors of State Flower and Plant Association.
According to Fars news agency, Behrouz Soltan-Mohammadi stated that currently over six million stalks of flowers are distributed in the Tehran markets daily.
He listed former Soviet states and Persian Gulf littoral countries as the main markets for Iranian flowers. “India, the Netherlands, Turkey and Iran are among the biggest flora markets,“ Soltan-Mohammadi added.
According to him, almost 1,700 hectares in Tehran are under cultivation of flowers and plants of which 700 hectares are located in Pakdasht, a village 15 km southeast of the capital.
“However, since we are still using traditional cultivation methods, the sector is lagging behind developed countries in the production of flowers and plants,“ he added.
Soltan-Mohammadi underlined that currently 38 varieties of flower are produced in the country, of which 12 can be exported.