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gas export for the first four months of the Iranian year (March 21 to July 21) reached almost $4 billion, the semi-official ISNA news agency quoted Oil Minister Javad Owji as saying on Wednesday.

The country sits on the world’s second-largest gas reserves after , but US sanctions have hindered Iranian access to technology and slowed development of gas exports.

"We have collected close to $4 billion of gas exports for the first four months of the year, which is nearly as much as what was collected for the entire previous year," Owji said.

Iran mainly exports gas to Turkey and Iraq but its delivery has not always been reliable due to debt-payment issues with Baghdad, Iran's own domestic consumption needs, and occasional technical problems which forced a momentary halt in exports to Turkey over the winter.

The Iranian government says it has found ways to repatriate funds from earlier energy exports and reached an agreement to resume gas supplies to Iraq in April as Baghdad paid part of its debts owed to Tehran.

(Reuters)