TEHRAN Oct. 4 (Shana) - Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Zangeneh and visiting Armenian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Yervand Zakharian met in Tehran on Sunday, discussing enhancement of bilateral cooperation in the field of energy.

Last December, during Armenian minister’s visit to Tehran to take part in the 12th session of Iran-Armenia Joint Economic Commission, the two ministers held a meeting during which it was agreed to broaden the energy ties.

The two neighboring countries have in recent years discussed launching a third high voltage electricity transmission line.

In return for delivering natural gas to Armenia, Iran is planning to receive electricity from the country at times of need.

Iran’s total in-place oil reserves have been estimated at more than 560 billion barrels, with about 140 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Heavy and extra heavy varieties of crude oil account for roughly 70-100 billion barrels of the total reserves.

Iran doesn't export crude oil to Armenia but it bartered about 900 million cubic meters of its gas with 1.14 billion Kwh of Armenian electricity during the previous fiscal year (ended on March 21, 2014), according to the official data.

Iran-Armenia trade balance stood at $300 million. Iran exported USD 198 million worth of goods to its north-western neighbor in 2013, while Armenia sold USD 95 worth of commodities to the Islamic Republic.

By SHANA