Prioritization of Iran's Natural Gas Export Markets

Iranwith about33.6trillioncubic meters of gas(18 percentoftotalworldreserves) asthelargest holder ofgas reservesin the world,Duetoits strategicpositioninthePersian Gulfcanplaya vital roleintheglobalenergy equation in future. Politics of transport gas through Turkey to Europe, bilateral cooperation in the gas sector with Armenia, operations gas imports from Turkmenistan and finally the peace talks with Pakistan and India gas pipeline- and possibly in the future with China- are clear examples of the development of gas industry. In this regard, a detailed study and prioritization of natural gas export markets is necessary.
This study Performed on the status of Short-Term (continuity of current sanctions) and long-term (pessimistic, realistic and desirable scenarios) and based on 4-Fold criteria consist of import capacity, technical/environmental constraints, geopolitical, political will and cooperation of Iranian gas to resist external political pressure.
Based on these results and based on 4 factors, including import capacity, technical and environmental constraints, geopolitics, gas cooperation with Iran and the political will to resist external pressures on the export of Iranian natural gas to the markets of Turkey, Pakistan (eastern direction), China and Iraq-Syria (direction west-Persian pipeline) to natural gas as a priority export markets are determined by 4-fold. Also In the long term condition, with consideration of 3 scenarios consist; a) Maintain the status quo and the predicted development of unconventional gas resources, b) Agreement to stop or at least slow removal sanctions and the predicted development of unconventional gas resources and c) Rapid removal of sanctions and technical barriers (LNG Production), Iran's Long-Term Priority of Natural Gas Export Markets are Determined.