Gazprom Mulling Joint Ventures With Iran

The head of Gazprom, Aleksei Miller (left), with Russian President Vladimir Putin (file photo) (epa) June 26, 2006 -- The Russian gas giant Gazprom says it may set up joint oil and gas ventures with Iran's state energy companies.

Gazprom said in a statement that its chief executive Aleksei Miller and the Iranian deputy minister for oil, Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian, met today in Moscow to discuss creating a joint venture to explore and develop oil and gas fields, and to transport and sell natural gas.


Russia has close business ties with Iran and is also building a nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr in Iran.


Sergei Kiriyenko , the head of Russia's Atomic Energy Agency, said today that work on the plant is on schedule to be completed in 2007.


The meeting between Miller and Hosseinian came a day after the Iranian oil minister, Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh, threatened to disrupt the world's oil supply if Iran is sanctioned for its nuclear program.


(RIA Novosti, AP)

RFE/RL Iran Report

RFE/RL Iran Report


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