TEHRAN, Apr. 20 (MNA) – According to an official with the National Iranian Gas Company, Turkey has announced the start of repairing the gas pipeline that had suffered damages some 20 days ago.

"Turkey has started repairing the pipelines importing gas from Iran on its soil and has announced that the repairs would take several weeks," Mehdi Jamshididana, director of dispatching at the company, told Shana on Sunday.

He said due to the reduction of Turkey’s gas imports from Iran after the cold season and given the restrictions caused by the coronavirus outbreak, repairing operations were delayed by Turkey, which is why Iran’s gas exports to Turkey are still halted.

Natural gas exports from Iran to Turkey were halted early on March 31 after an explosion and fire at a pipeline just inside the Turkish border.

The explosion occurred near the Gurbulak border gate with Iran in Agri province, which is near the joint Bazargan border. Later, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for the attack.

The pipeline carries around 10 billion cubic meters of Iranian gas to Turkey annually and has been hit by terrorist attacks since the 1990s.

MNA/Shana