July 5, 2024
Moscow and Tehran say they have signed a deal under which Russia’s Gazprom will pipe natural gas to Iran, the country with the second largest gas reserves, but which finds it is falling short of demand almost every winter. No details about when and where the pipeline will be built and deliveries begun were released, but the agreement suggests Iran has concluded it is better to import gas from Russia than to try to produce enough itself.
Russia has had an oversupply of gas ever since Moscow invaded Ukraine and Europe stopped buying Russian gas. The document that was signed was a memorandum of understanding (MOU); a contract must still be signed before anything actually happens.