Iran, Kuwait hold gas talks

TEHRAN, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- The Iranian oil minister left for Kuwait Tuesday to discuss progress on a deal to export natural gas to the emirate through an underwater pipeline by 2011.

Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari said his scheduled trip follows talks on the sidelines of an October meeting in Doha, the capital of Qatar, with members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the Iranian Press TV reported.

Iran and Kuwait have been in negotiations over gas deals since 2005 as the Arab state is unable to meet its domestic demand, despite earlier promises to bring some 500 million cubic feet of natural gas to the market through various recent discoveries.

Nozari led a delegation of top Iranian officials to Kuwait in hopes of reaching a deal to transport 500 billion cubic feet per day through an undersea pipeline.

Demand for natural gas in Persian Gulf states has outpaced regional demand for oil, with consumption expected to triple in the next quarter-century.