Iran to export natural gas to Syria

Iran plans to sell natural gas to Syria from 2009, as the two nations that oppose the US policy in West Asia forge closer ties.

Syrian Oil Minister Sufian al-Alao and his Iranian counterpart Gholamhossein Nozari signed a "memorandum of understanding" in Tehran yesterday to sell 2 billion to 3 billion cubic meters a year (70 billion to 106 billion cubic feet) of Iranian gas to Syria, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said.

Iran, holder of the world's second-largest natural gas reserves behind Russia, would deliver the fuel through the extension of an existing pipeline that runs to Turkey, the Iranian Oil Ministry said on its website today.

"The project will deepen the ties between Damascus and Tehran and have a positive impact on the two states' economy,'' al-Alao said, according to the website.