Turkey and Iran have yet to reach a full-fledged agreement over a project to exploit natural gas in Iran's South Pars region, Turkish energy minister said on Monday.

"We have not agreed on the details of the deal on South Pars region. The final agreement is yet to ripe in certain aspects," Taner Yildiz told reporters in capital Ankara.

Turkey and Iran signed in November 2008 an deal on developing Iran's gas fields and transporting Iranian gas to Europe.

The agreement gives Turkey the operation rights for three offshore gas fields in Iran's South Pars region.

Under the deal, Turkey would produce some 46 million cubic meters of gas per day and may use half of that amount itself.

Yildiz also said he talked last week with Ali Agha Mohammadi, special envoy to the Iranian president, over joint projects between the two countries including those in the South Pars region.

Yildiz said Turkey did not plan in the short term to increase the amount of natural gas it purchased from Iran, which is one of the biggest gas suppliers for Turkey.
 

AA