Turkmenistan Limits Gas Supplies to Iran Due to Debts

Turkmenistan's authorities have made a decision to cut the deliveries of natural gas from the Central Asian country to Iran because of the National Iranian Gas Company's (NIGC) debts, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

ASHKHABAD (Sputnik) — Earlier in the week, the NIGC said that Ashkhabad had halted gas exports to Tehran starting from Sunday.

"Starting from 2013, the National Iranian Gas Company has not taken necessary steps to pay off its debt for the natural gas that has been delivered to Iran from Turkmenistan earlier… During 2016, the Iranian side had been repeatedly informed about the unfolding situation in the sphere of gas deliveries and about potential limitation of Turkmenistan's natural gas supplies," the statement said.

Tehran's poor response to the situation has resulted in the imposition of limitations on gas supplies to Iran starting from Sunday, the ministry added.

Turkmenistan's natural gas reserves are among the largest in the world. The main importers of the country's gas are Iran and China.

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