The analyst spoke about the benefits of Russian gas supplies to Iran through Azerbaijan

Iran and Gazprom are close to a final agreement on the launch of Russian gas supplies to the republic through the territory of Azerbaijan. A leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund (NWF) told Izvestia on August 25 how this step will affect the region's gas market and the Russian economy Igor Yushkov.

The analyst explained that Iran, despite having the world's second largest gas reserves, has problems with storage facilities. This leads to the need to increase gas production in winter to meet the needs for heating and electricity generation. He noted that Russian gas will be used to balance Iran's gas market during periods of peak demand when conventional production is insufficient.

"Russian gas supplies are more likely to be seasonal, that is, only during the heating season. And secondly, these small volumes will still be in annual terms, that is, a couple billion cubic meters of gas may be supplied depending on the heating season," the expert said.

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It is proposed to replace it with energy resources from Azerbaijan and the United States.

Yushkov also noted that the gas supply system through Azerbaijan to Iran already exists, and large investments or the construction of new infrastructure will not be required to organize transit. This will make the delivery process less costly and convenient for all parties. This additionally opens up a sales market for Russia, an opportunity to balance the gas system for Iran, and revenue from transit for Azerbaijan.

However, according to the expert, Russian gas supplies to Iran cannot replace supplies to Europe. In 2021, Russia supplied more than 130 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe, while supplies to Iran will amount to only a few billion per year.

"Therefore, energy cooperation is being strengthened. It benefits everyone. This is an additional sales market for us. For Iran, it is balancing the gas system during the heating season, for Azerbaijan— it is money for transit. Therefore, it is economically beneficial for everyone," Yushkov concluded.

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On August 22, it was reported that Russian gas supplies to Armenia had been suspended. The reason was the need to carry out emergency recovery work on the transit main gas pipeline "Krasny Most - Sevkar–Berd" (DN 1000) on the territory of Georgia. Uninterrupted gas supply was provided by internal reserves and additional volumes of natural gas supplies from Iran.

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