Russia-Iran energy cooperation not limited to building of nuclear power plant "Bushehr" alone

Russia-Iran energy cooperation is not limited to building of "Bushehr" nuclear power plant, said chairman of the Iranian Majlis (parliament) Energy Commission Hossein Afarideh in an exclusive interview with RIA Novosti.

An opportunity of building the first thermal power plant in Iran, using natural coal, is now being discussed, he said. This is a joint Russian-Iranian project "Tabas".

Taking into account the necessity to acquire additional energy sources for the country's needs, the opportunity of building "Tabas" power station, with a capacity of 1500 MWt, is now being studied by experts, the MP stated. "We will proceed from the real energy needs," he said.

The chairman of the Parliamentary Energy Commission expressed his satisfaction with the Russian government's draft project on boosting Russo-Iranian scientific and technical cooperation, planned till 2012.

Iran supports Russia's decision to cooperate closely with the Islamic republic in terms of energy, Afarideh said. He believes that realisation of this project will not only strengthen bilateral relations in the spheres of science, technology and energy, but increase bilateral cooperation as a whole.

Afarideh added that the Iranian energy sector had a big potential. Russia is not the only country to participate in studying them. European companies are also taking an active part in oil and gas sector development.

"We are currently cooperating with Japanese, German and Italian companies," added chairman of the Majlis Energy Commission of the Islamic republic.