Turkey says close to finalizing natural gas agreements with Iran

"Our talks are about to reach a conclusion. At this point our talks had been largely shaped. So our colleagues have been doing the final retouches on the deal," Hilmi Guler told HotNewsTurkey on Friday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Central Asia and Europe summit in Istanbul.

Turkey and Iran had earlier failed to conclude expected energy accords during the visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Turkey in August. The United States, which is seeking to isolate Tehran over it nuclear program, opposes the plan.
 
Under the deal, Turkey's state-owned petroleum company, TPAO, will explore in Iran's South Pars field and gas will be piped to Turkey for consumption or re-export to European markets.

Guler said he would pay a visit to Iran to sign the gas deals and this visit would be made before the end of the year.