Former Iranian oil minister Rostam Qasemi on Saturday said Tehran and Baghdad reached an agreement to boost natural gas exports to the Arab country to 50 million cubic meters, Fars News Agency reported.
"After technical negotiations with the Iraqis, we considered a gas contract with Baghdad for the daily export of 25 million cubic meters, which was inked by the two oil ministries, and then the construction of the pipeline from Mehran to Naftshahr and Baghdad was completed," Qasemi, who is also the secretary of the Headquarters for Iran-Iraq Economic Development, added.
Qasemi also elaborated on another bilateral agreement to export gas through Khorramshahr in Iran to Basra in Iraq
"With the second agreement, we will export 50 mcm of gas to Iraq," he said.
Referring to good economic relations between Tehran and Baghdad, Qasemi said, "At present, our economic exchanges are worth around $13 billion."