The gas valve will be turned up several notches in Iran. Although Western sanctions against the country have not yet been formally lifted, the state - alongside all kinds of investors - has already begun preparations to reopen its energy market to the world. The country currently boasts a daily natural gas production rate of 660 million cubic meters, but now plans to increase this figure to 1,100 million cubic meters by 2019.

"Based on the national outlook plan, we should take ten percent of the global gas market, but for the time being, we are lagging behind the target," Azizollah Ramezani, the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC)’s director for international affairs, told Natural Gas Europe.