SHANA -- Iran's natural gas exports grew by 60% last calendar year (ended on March 20) compared with the preceding year, the director of international affairs at National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) said.

According to NIGC, Behzad Babazadeh said the country's natural gas exports increased 60% last calendar year, adding the exports reached 13.8 billion cubic meters and were expected to grow even higher in future years.

Understanding the operational and technical challenges faced by exports, gas swap and transit through pipelines and FLNG vessels, marketing of side-products such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and sulfur, and conducting preliminary negotiations with potential customers are top on NIGC's export agenda this year, he said.

According to Babazadeh, understanding the international business conditions and markets in the gas industry is another concern for NIGC this year; gas export, transit and swap, talks with the representatives of foreign companies about gas export projects, learning about the latest technologies used for gas exports and gaining information about state-of-the-art technologies in the world in gas industry are other goals pursued by NIGC this year.