Natural gas exports from Iran to Turkey were halted early Tuesday after an explosion occurred in the pipeline just inside the border of Turkey.
The explosion occurred near the Gurbulak border gate with Iran in Agri province, which is near the joint Bazargan border. Some sources reported it as a terrorist attack on Tuesday.
The Press Office of People's Defense Forces (HPG), a military wing of the PKK, said on Wednesday a fighter of the group attacked the Turkish forces guarding the pipeline on March 31, engaging the troops and then blowing herself up.
National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) announced on Tuesday that Iranian gas exports to Turkey will resume in a few days.
“The damaged part of Iran's gas export pipeline to Turkey will be repaired within the next few days,” Shana quoted the director of dispatching of the National Gas Company, Mehdi Jamshidi-Danaas saying.
As a rule of thumb, such repairing operations take between three to 7 days depending on the damage done to the pipeline, the official said.
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/HMSH497086
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