The Swiss company Elektrizitats-Gesellschaft Laufenburg (EGL) has started negotiations with Turkey on a transit deal necessary for the transfer of Iranian gas to Europe.

In March 2007, the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) signed a long-term contract with EGL to sell natural gas on the DAF basis (Iranian-Turkish border) in the volume of up to 5.5 billion cubic meters annually, beginning from 2012.

"First small deliveries of the Iranian gas could take place as early as next year, provided we will receive the necessary gas transit agreements from Turkey," EGL spokeswoman Lilly Frei told Trend Capital.

Frei however added that “if the international community imposes any new sanctions that will touch the gas sector, of course, we will obey,".

The Swiss foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey visited Tehran in 2008 to sign a gas deal with Iran in a bid to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas.

The gas deal between Iran and the Swiss however angered Washington which tried to pressure the country into canceling the agreement.

After receiving warnings from the US Embassy in Bern about the 25-year natural gas deal, Calmy-Rey said Bern does not need Washington's permission to advance its strategic interests.

The deal does not violate the UN Security Council resolutions or US sanctions imposed on Iran, Calmy-Rey said during the visit.

EGL was founded in 1956 in Laufenburg and is active in the trade of gas and electricity.

The gas deal secures the annual delivery of 5.5 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe through a pipeline scheduled to be complete in 2010. The Swiss energy group has said that the value of the deal is above $13.32 billion.

MVZ/MMA/DT