Iran to double gas production by 2015

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said Sunday that the country's natural gas production will increase by more than twofold over the next three years, Press TV reported. "According to (our) planning, the country's gas production capacity will reach 1.4 billion cubic meters per day within the next three years," Qasemi was quoted as saying. Iran would be exporting its natural gas to more neighboring countries by 2015, said the Iranian minister. Curretly, Iran exports its natural gas to its neighboring states of Turkey, Armenia and Iraq. "Thanks to the (Western) sanctions and with the efforts made ( by Iranian experts), currently about 70-80 percent of (Iran's) oil industry and refinery equipment are produced domestically," Qasemi added. The United States and European Union (EU) have imposed successive unilateral sanctions on Iran's oil and gas industry in the past years. The West has accused Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons under the guise of its civilian nuclear program, a charge Tehran has consistently denied.