Azerbaijan offers Iran to use its oil, gas pipelines

Speaking to Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh in Tehran on Tuesday, the Azerbaijani minister said Iran can use the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline to export crude oil to world markets.

Iran may also join SOCAR’s Trans-Anatolian pipeline (Tanap), which is under construction in Turkey.

BTC has a capacity to export 1.2 million barrels of oil a day. The BP-led pipeline is operating at half capacity at the moment.

Tanap, estimated to cost $11 billion, is to deliver Azerbaijani gas to Turkey in 2018 and on to Europe from 2020. Partners in the project include BP and Turkey's BOTAS.

Mustafayev said Iran can also use SOCAR’s underground gas depots to supply the fuel to its northwestern regions in winter.

In return, the Iranian minister offered an oil swap agreement to Azerbaijan.

Iran can get Azerbaijani crude oil shipped to an oil refinery in Tehran via the Caspian port of Neka and a pipeline connecting the port with the Iranian capital, Zanganeh said.

In exchange, Azerbaijan would get crude oil at Iranian ports in the Gulf region, he said.

Zanganeh said a swap agreement could be reached after the Western sanctions on Iran are lifted.