Iran has halted gas flaring from the Soroush and Norouz oil fields in the Persian Gulf, through implementation of a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project.

A top National Iranian Gas Co (NIGC) official said recently the company is in talks with neighbouring countries about supplying gas for domestic demand, but these talks have been non-committal.

State-owned energy giant Sonatrach will launch a pilot project for developing unconventional gas resources in 2012 in Algeria.

Presenting at Gastech 2011 in Amsterdam, Wood Mackenzie said it expects that around 150 million tonnes of new LNG capacity will need to be sanctioned over the next ten years to meet growing demand for gas, which will require supply from discovered conventional resources, unconventional gas, and yet to be discovered or appraised gas.