Iran to ink $6.6 billion gas deal with domestic company

TEHRAN,Feb.5(MNA)--Iran Offshore Oil Company’s (IOOC) will soon ink a deal, worth $6.6 billion, with Iran’s power projects management company (MAPNA) for developing the Forouz B gas field in the Persian Gulf and generating electricity from the produced natural gas, the IOOC managing director said. According to the contract, which is forecasted to be signed by the end of the current calendar year (March 20), up to 6,000 megawatts of electricity will be generated in two phases, the IOOC head Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh told . The generated electricity will be supplied to the domestic network and will be also exported to the neighboring countries, such the UAE, Oman and Pakistan, he added. Iran exported over 5,330 gigawatt hours of electricity to the neighboring countries by the end of November, showing 23 percent rise in comparison to the same period last year. Deputy energy minister Mohammad Behzad has predicted that the country’s value of electricity exports would hit $1 billion by the end of the current calendar year. Behzad said that three billion dollars worth of technical and engineering services will be also exported by the yearend. "Iran currently exchanges electricity with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq," he said. By the end of the fifth national development plan (2015) Iran will boost its electricity generation capacity by 25,000 megawatts, Energy Minister Majid Namjou said in October 2011.