Mr James M Dorsey senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University's S Rajaratnam School of International Studies said that it is unlikely that further sanctions on Iran would have a major impact on the world gas market.

Mr Dorsey said that Iran, being world's second country by natural gas reserves after Russia is suffering already from the sanctions that have impacted its oil exports. Iran is already finding it difficult to export and that many of its clients have sought alternative suppliers.

Diplomats said that the European Union is poised to ban imports of Iranian gas into Europe as part of its efforts to ratchet up pressure on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.

Diplomats from EU member states have started preparing a package of sanctions against Iran with a goal of formally adopting them at a meeting of foreign ministers on October 15th 2012 in Luxembourg.

EU diplomats said that they reached a preliminary deal to ban gas imports the first measure to win approval in the package which also consists of various finance and energy related proposals.

Source - Trend News Agency

(www.steelguru.com)