DUBAI, June 7. /TASS/. Iran plans to create a gas hub with the participation of Russia, Qatar and Turkmenistan, Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji announced on Wednesday.

The hub will be established in the industrial zone in Asaluyeh, Bushehr Province, on the Iranian north coast of the Persian Gulf.

"We have the second largest gas reserves in the world, so we plan to create a gas hub in the Asaluyeh region in cooperation with Russia, Qatar and Turkmenistan," the Tasnim news agency quoted the oil minister as saying. Owji did not indicate an overall timeframe for implementing the project.

In May, Owji said that Iran and Russia were discussing the development of ten new oil and gas fields in the Islamic republic. According to him, the Iranian authorities are in talks with Gazprom. The minister estimated the value of such joint projects at $40 billion. In particular, Gazprom is considering the options for developing Iran’s Kish and North Pars fields with a subsequent project to liquefy gas for delivery to world markets.

In 2022, the Iranian National Oil Company and Gazprom signed a memorandum on strategic cooperation. The document calls for analyzing the potential for working jointly, including in the areas of developing Iranian oil-and-gas and oil fields, implementing exchange transactions involving natural gas and oil products, carrying out large- and small-scale LNG projects, building gas pipelines, and collaborating on scientific, technical and technological initiatives.

Assaluyeh serves as the production hub for the world's largest oil and gas field, North - South Pars, which is located in the central part of the Persian Gulf in Iranian and Qatari territorial waters. The total geological reserves of the field are estimated at 51 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 7.7 billion cubic meters of condensate. The recoverable reserves are estimated at 35.6 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 3 billion cubic meters of condensate.