Valiollah Dini added that based on an announcement by the (Turkish pipeline operator) Botas, gas exports to Turkey would be resumed within the next seven days.
The overnight blast, allegedly carried out by the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), forced Turkish authorities to shut down the conduit in the country’s eastern city of Agri, which borders Iran.
The repair work is ongoing on the Iran-Turkey gas pipeline, Dini added.
Last month, a similar blast occurred in another section of the pipeline close to the eastern Turkish town of Dogubayazit, near Iran’s border. When the explosion on July 21 halted gas flows, it took 10 days to fix the pipeline.
Iran is Turkey’s second largest supplier of natural gas after Russia, exporting 10 billion cubic meters of gas each year. Turkey uses gas to fire half of its power plants.
Iran’s gas exports to Turkey in 2009 amounted to roughly $7 billion, Press TV reported.
MF/SJ
END
MNA
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