Baku, Tehran sign energy agreements

TEHRAN (UPI) -- Azerbaijan said it signed a memorandum of understanding to broaden energy ties in the Iranian oil and natural gas sector.

The State Oil Co. of the Azerbaijan Republic said its delegates have spent the last three days in Iran visiting with ministers and representatives from the energy sector.

SOCAR said it reviewed interests expressed by Iran's Khazar Exploration and Production Co. to work on oil and gas issues ranging from production to transportation of reserves between the two Caspian nations.

"The event ended with signing of a memorandum of understanding between Iran's Khazar Exploration & Production Co. and SOCAR," the Azeri company said Thursday.

Iranian Minister of Communication and Information Technologies Mahmoud Vaezi met in Baku with SOCAR Director Rovneq Abdullayev in early August to review an offer from Baku to coordinate energy policies more closely for the sake of the needs of the European community.

Azerbaijan is scheduled to supply natural gas from its Shah Deniz field to European consumers through a network of pipelines dubbed the Southern Corridor. Iran in the past tried to play a role in the Nabucco gas pipeline, a now-idled project that was to be included in the European transit network.

Iran and Azerbaijan have close ties in the electricity industry.