Director of the International Affairs Department at National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), Azizollah Ramezani ,said that an Iraqi delegation will be present in the Islamic Republic in early August to discuss a natural gas export project, which can start within a month, IRNA reported.

According to the agreement, Iran would start exporting 25mcm/day of gas to Sadr, Baghdad and al-Mansuriya power plants through the 270Km pipeline. The amount would increase to as high as 35mcm/day during hot seasons.

Ramezani added that Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity delegation along with their Iranian counterpart will finalize the financial mechanisms – and specifically the pricing formula – relating to the project, PressTV informed. Iraq’s delegation is further receiving training under the Iranian leadership over financial and  technical issues relating to the natural gas export project.

Ramezni has recently stated that Iran is to retain its potential to export 30bcm/year of gas to Europe between 2016-2021, while another 50bcm/year are to be allocated for exports to the neighboring countries. In light of implementing the optimization projects, 120mcm of gas more is expected to be added to the exports capacity.

On the other hand, Iraq’s oil exports were reported to witness a boost in July following two months of slump due to technical problems. Exports from south Iraq will rise from 3.18mb/d in June reaching around 3.28mb/d in July.