02-08-04 Bahrain plans to sign agreements with Iran and Qatar next year for the purchase of gas, a finance ministry official said. The projects involve pipe laying under the Persian Gulf, which is expected to finish by 2009, quoting Undersecretary for Finance and National Economy, Sheikh Ibrahim bin Khalifa al-Khalifa.
He put the cost of the projects at 1 bn Bahraini dinars. Sheikh Ibrahim said talks with Iran and Qatar were “progressing smoothly and would be completed by the year-end”.
"Iran has affirmed its keenness to take part in the joint investment project and provide investment options."

Another report said that Iran had begun building a 140 km-long gas pipeline to Armenia. It said the two countries had signed an agreement on the project worth around $ 120 mm in May, when Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh visited Yerevan.
Under its provisions, Iran will be supplying 36 bn cm of natural gas to Armenia annually from 2007 through 2027. OPEC sources in Vienna said that the pipeline might be used to ship Iranian gas to Georgia, Ukraine and farther on to Europe in the future.

Tehran has already a multi-billion-dollar contract with neighbouring Turkey to supply gas for 25 years. The gas flow was launched in December 2001 via a 2,577 km pipeline, running from the north-eastern city of Tabriz to Ankara, which supplies gas from southern Iran near the Persian Gulf. The contract has been a boon to Iran’s bid to become a sustainable gas supplier to Turkey and Europe.
Looking for alternative markets, Tehran has held talks with the Persian Gulf littoral states and the Central Asian nations for the sale of gas. The country sits on the second largest proven gas reserves of the world after Russia, which has been a headache for Iran by getting into, what is feared to be, an unnecessary and costly competition.