UPDATE 2-Iran says Turkmenistan wants to raise gas price

(Adds quotes, background)

TEHRAN, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan wants to raise the price of natural gas it sells to Iran while Tehran argues the two countries agreed not to change it in a contract signed last year, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying.

Iranian officials this week said Turkmenistan had halted daily deliveries to Iran of up to 23 million cubic metres of gas, blaming the disruption on technical problems. Some Iranian media have suggested it might be linked to a pricing dispute.

Iran, a small net importer despite its huge gas reserves, gets about 5 percent of its needs from its northern neighbour and the supply disruption has caused shortages in some areas as well as a reduction in Iran's gas exports to Turkey.

"They (Turkmenistan) believe that, as they increased the price of gas they export to Russia, they should raise the price of gas they export to Iran," Reza Kasaizadeh, who heads the state gas company, was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency on Wednesday.

"But the signed contract between the two countries is important to us and one should act based on that," he said.

Kasaizadeh said he had based his comments on information from Iran's foreign minister, following a visit by an Iranian delegation to Turkmenistan's capital last week.

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