Iran, Azeri gas flow to Turkey hit by technical problems

The flow of natural gas from Azerbaijan to Turkey was halted on Tuesday due to technical problems which also hit the gas flow from Iran, Turkish officials told Reuters, curbing supply to Turkey as it faces pressure to meet high winter demand.
The Iranian supply problem was expected to be resolved on Tuesday afternoon, while Azerbaijan was working to fix the technical problem there, the officials said.
Turkey imports 6.6 billion cubic metres of gas per year from Azerbaijan, around 16% of its consumption. It also imports around 10 bcm from Iran, making it Turkey's second largest supplier after Russia. Turkey and Iran are currently locked in a dispute over price.
"Technical problems were the source of the halt in natural gas from Azerbaijan and the Iranian supply problem," one official said.
The officials also said Turkey had halted gas supplies to Greece due to the cut in Azeri gas supply and said it had asked Iran to increase its supply.
Iran's National Gas Company spokesman Majid Boujarzadeh told Reuters: "Iran is exporting the amount agreed in the gas contract with Turkey, which is around 27 million cubic feet,
"However, it is possible that for some technical issues, our gas exports to Turkey might face a temporary drop but now gas flows to Turkey as usual."
Last month, Turkey applied for arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce in Switzerland in a dispute over gas prices with Iran.
The ICC had resolved a previous contractual dispute between the two neighbours in 2009, when it awarded Turkey $800 million compensation related to gas purchases from Iran.
The dispute is unrelated to the growing international pressure Iran is facing over its nuclear programme. The European Union imposed a ban on imports of oil from Iran last month.
Iran on Tuesday denounced as "an antagonistic move" a tightening of U.S. sanctions targeting Tehran's central bank and giving U.S. banks new powers to freeze Iranian government assets, and said it would have no impact.