Iran has agreed to purchase 3.3 bcm/year of natural gas from Russia through Azerbaijan. In 2020, the country imported only 1 bcm of natural gas. Iran is the world’s third largest gas producer, with an output of 235 bcm in 2020. Most of the gas production is domestically consumed (93% in 2020).
In July 2022, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and the Russian gas group Gazprom have signed a memorandum of understanding worth US$40bn. Gazprom will help NIOC in the development of Kish and North Pars gas fields, pressure enhancement of South Pars field, development of 6 oil fields, gas and product swap, completion of LNG projects and construction of gas export pipelines.
The Kish gas field, located under Kish Island and its surrounding waters in the Persian Gulf, has 1,932 bcm of gas reserves, while the North Pars gas field, situated 20 km south-east of Bushehr, 15 km from the shore, holds gas reserves totalling 1,668 bcm. Iran has the world's second-largest gas reserves after Russia, amounting to about 34,000 bcm, i.e. 17% of the world's total gas reserves (end of 2021).