Iran and Azerbaijan are set to finalise several energy deals, including agreements on joint oil and gas development in the Caspian Sea and gas swaps. Iranian oil minister Javad Owji said Iran and Azerbaijan have completed preliminary talks on joint Caspian development and are currently holding technical discussions that would lead to the signing of a final contract. However, the minister did not specify which projects were under consideration.
In 2018, the two countries also agreed to team up in developing two blocks in the southern part of the Caspian Sea. Iran’s then oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said the output from the joint assets would be split evenly between both countries, but he did not specify the blocks covered by the deals. Iran has been struggling to develop deep-water hydrocarbon resources in the Caspian sea as international sanctions prevented it from accessing investment and cutting-edge technologies.
Owji and Azerbaijan’s deputy prime minister Shahin Mustafayev also agreed on gas swaps for Nakhchivan. Nakhchivan is an autonomous Azeri exclave bordered by Iran, Turkey, and Armenia. Iran has been supplying gas to the region under a 25-year contract signed in 2004. The deal involves Tehran receiving up to 2 MMcmd of Azeri gas and shipping the same volume of its gas to Nakhchivan.
