Iran's gas export revenue for the first four months of the Iranian year (March 21 to July 21) reached almost $4 billion, local media quoted Oil Minister Javad Owji as saying on Wednesday.

The country sits on the world’s second-largest gas reserves after Russia, but years of various international sanctions have prevented the technological development of its gas export sector.

"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.

On Tuesday Iran made a claim that its oil export revenues climbed by 580 percent from March 2021 to March 2022, although other government data show little revenue flowed into its treasury. Iran’s high inflation and a falling currency keep the economy in a crisis.

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.

Global gas prices have risen almost fivefold in 2022 and it is possible that Iran earned one billion dollars a month, although last year its gas exports totaled $4 billion.