On 4 December President of Turkmenistan Gurbanuly Berdymukhammedov held a video conference where the newly-appointed Minister, Chairperson of the state holding “Turkmengas” Myrat Archayev (see the photo) made a progress report.
The state information agency TDH reports that Archayev told the head of the state about a considerable debt of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) for Turkmen gas supplies.
According to the Minister, “with a view of mutually acceptable and non-biased solution of the problem the Iranian partners propose to file a lawsuit to the International Court of Arbitration”.
The President instructed to prepare the documents for court proceedings.
Let us recall that despite reached agreements, on 1 January 2017 Turkmengas halted gas exports to Iran demanding that NIGC should settle the debt amounting to some $1,8 billion (according to other estimates, $2 billion).
Iran acknowledges the debt but demands that the amount of the debt be reviewed. Throughout 2017 the NIGC repeatedly threatened Turkmenistan to refer to the case to the international court.
It should be mentioned that official Turkmen media outlets reported about the gas dispute with Iran for the first time though the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already published a press release for media outlets.