Iran and Italian power company Edison are nearing agreement on a deal to transport more than one billion cubic feet of Iranian natural gas to Europe per day, the Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said on Sunday.

"Their initial requirement is 1.5 billion cubic feet (42.5 million cubic meters) that they have demanded by the end of 2008. Then it will reach 4.5 billion cubic feet (128 million cubic meters)," Nozari added.

The Oil Minister gave no further details but the quantities appeared to refer to the amounts of gas that Iran would pump to Italy per day.

Asked how the gas would reach Italy, Nozari said it would be sent through pipelines across Turkey and then either through Greece or Albania.

Iran supplies several billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey annually and has signed a preliminary deal with Ankara for exporting gas to Europe, a move strongly criticized by the United States.

Fars News Agency, Iran, December 24, 2007