The two countries are poised to sign a deal before the end of the current Persian calendar year on March 20, 2013.
The report added that Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi has recently held talks with his Iranian counterpart Rostam Qasemi and Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Ahmad Qalebani in Tehran.
Iran has basically agreed to pump 25 million cubic meters (mcm) per day of natural gas to Iraq.
On January 30, Iranian Oil Ministry spokesman Alireza Nikzad-Rahbar said the country would start exporting natural gas to Baghdad by next summer.
Nikzad-Rahbar added that the “friendship” pipeline project under construction between Iran, Iraq and Syria, is the most important project currently pursued by the ministry.
The pipeline would be designed in such a way that it would be able to deliver gas to other Muslim countries like Jordan and Lebanon in the future.
The 56-inch pipeline will start from Assaluyeh, near the massive offshore South Pars Gas Field in southern Iran, and will continue into neighboring Iraq to feed three Iraqi power plants running on gas.
The South Pars Gas Field, which is shared with Qatar, holds about 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, or about eight percent of the total world reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas resources.
Iran, which sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia, is making efforts to up its gas production by increasing foreign and domestic investments, especially in South Pars Gas Field.
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