Kuwait is in advanced talks with Tehran to import gas to help meet spiralling domestic demand, a Kuwaiti newspaper said.

Kuwait's Oil Minister Mohammad Al-Olaim held talks with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Alireza Sheikh-Attar on Monday to discuss gas import prices, Al-Rai reported. The newspaper gave no more details.

Kuwait has said in the past it was considering importing gas from Iran and Iraq to help meet rising demand from power plants and industry. It is also negotiating to import gas from Qatar.

Record oil export income is fuelling an economic boom across the Gulf, pushing up energy needs. Despite sitting on huge gas reserves, the world's largest oil exporting region is short of gas supplies to feed its own growth.

Kuwait began output from some northern gas fields not associated with oil production in June, a six-month delay from the planned start up. It aims to boost gas output from the fields to a billion cubic feet per day by 2015.

In March 2006, Kuwait said it had found an estimated 35 trillion cubic feet of non-associated gas along with large amounts of condensates in the north of the country. Kuwait is the world's seventh-largest oil exporter. - Reuters