Iran reliable partner for supplying gas to EU

Iranian Minister of Industries, Mines and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said Tehran is ready to supply natural gas to the European countries. "Iran should be considered a reliable partner for natural gas supplies to Europe," Nematzadeh to the German business daily Handelsblatt. He underlined that Iran has the world's largest natural gas reserves, and said, "Iran would be a reliable and long-term partner for Europe as the EU aims to decrease its dependence on Russian deliveries due to the ongoing Ukraine crisis." The minister noted that the government was looking into a pipeline that would transport gas from Southern Iran to the Turkish border from which it could be pumped on to the West. He added that before the sanctions went into force, there had already been concrete plans to deliver liquid gas to Spain, and feasibility studies for a separate pipeline to Europe were also under way. Nematzadeh said that Europe's hunger for energy was strong enough to provide good business for both Tehran and Moscow. Tensions between the Western powers and Moscow heightened after Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and formally applied to become part of the Russian Federation following a referendum on March 16, in which nearly 97 percent of voters in Crimea chose to rejoin Russia. Iran has 137.6 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and 29.61 trillion cubic meters of proven gas reserves, ranking second in the world in both oil and gas reserves.