Iran’s oil minister said on Thursday that oil and gas swap between Iran and Russia would make Iran the hub of energy in the region.

Javad Owji who accompanies Iran’s First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber in Moscow to attend the second meeting of the Caspian Economic Forum (CEF) said that Iran and Russia had made a lot of collaboration on energy swap.

He said that the two countries would make new agreements on establishing facilities and extracting joint gas fields, mentioning a joint investment with Russia’s Gazprom in LNG production and gas-related technologies.

The total agreements with Russian businesses on oil and gas accounted for 40 billion dollars, Owji said.

He also underlined that Tehran and Moscow will jointly construct pipelines from Iran to Oman and Pakistan and will swap up to 10 million tons of oil and non-oil products.

The oil minister expressed hope that the agreement to swap 15 billion cubic meters of gas will be finalized within weeks.
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