TEHRAN, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Iranian gas executives said the country expects to ramp up its exports of natural gas by as much as 7 billion cubic feet per day by 2014.
Reza Kasaeizadeh, managing director of Iran's National Gas Export Co., told the Mehr News Agency his country expects more exports to target Turkey and Armenia through export pipelines.
A gas swap deal with Azerbaijan and a recent deal with Pakistan would also account for much of the increase in exports, he said.
Islamabad and Tehran signed a bilateral deal for the proposed 1,724-mile IPI natural gas pipeline earlier this year. Pakistan would receive 750 million cubic feet per day from the South Pars gas field in Iran to generate electricity under the terms of a 25-year deal.
India has balked on IPI and Kasaeizadeh stressed New Delhi does not have "unlimited time" to rejoin the project.
Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, for his part, said security is among the latest reasons for hesitation on IPI, the Press Trust of India reports.
"We would hesitate to mortgage our security or security of our oil and gas supplies from Iran to a pipeline running through Pakistan that exists right now," he said.
Both Pakistan and India face pressure from Washington to back away from the project.
