Page 6 - MEOG Week 39 2022

MEOG PIPELINES & TRANSPORT MEOG

Cold water poured over Iran-Russia

gas swap agreement potential

IRAN MORTEZA Behruzifar, a researcher at Iran’s Ukraine, Russia did not invest “a single rial” in
Institute for International Energy Studies (IIES), Iran. Instead, it effectively abided by US trade
has said he does not expect the signing of a nat- restrictions, he said.
ural gas swap agreement between Tehran and Behruzifar went on to assert that co-opera-
Moscow to bear much fruit. tion with Russia would not bring many benefits
Behruzifar noted in an interview with ILNA to the Iranian gas sector. Russia does not have
that Iran’s government has been talking up the any home-grown gas liquefaction technologies
potential financial benefits of co-operation with and has had to depend on foreign partners for
Russia, which is not party to the US-led sanc- the construction of all its LNG plants, so it will
tions regime that seeks to discourage invest- not be able to support the desired increase in
ment in the Iranian oil and gas sector. Now that shipments to Oman and Pakistan via the con-
Russia too has been hit with US sanctions, Iran struction of new production facilities, he said.
has attempted to step up co-operation and has “[We] don’t have an LNG plant. Russia doesn’t
signed documents designed to lay the ground- have the technology either. All the units that are
work for gas swaps that would facilitate Russian currently in operation [in Russia] are American
LNG exports to Oman and Pakistan via southern and European,” he remarked. “So far, Russia has
Iranian ports, he said. not been able to set up even a small unit of its
These overtures are well intentioned but own, so [we can’t] expect it to do it for us.”
not likely to yield much in the way of concrete Iranian news agencies reported earlier this
results, he argued. He said he was not at all cer- month that Tehran and Moscow were prepar-
tain that Moscow was willing to work closely ing to implement a previously signed gas swap
with Tehran in a way that benefited the Iranian agreement. The deal calls for Russia to use pipe-
gas sector. Indeed, Russia appears to view Iran lines through Azerbaijan to deliver 9mn cubic
as a rival rather than a partner, especially since metres per day of gas to Iran for use in its own
both have been targeting European gas markets, domestic market. In exchange, Iran will export
he commented. the equivalent of 6 mcm per day of gas on Russia’s
Moreover, he continued, even before the behalf in the form of LNG from its own southern
US government imposed sanctions on Russia’s ports and also boost pipeline deliveries of gas to
oil and gas sector in response to the conflict in Iraq and Turkey.™

Oil begins flowing to Iraq’s Karbala refinery

IRAQ IRAQ’S Oil Ministry announced on September 90- and 95-octane levels.
25 that the Karbala refinery had begun receiving The plant is Iraq’s first oil refinery in decades.
feedstock in preparation for trial production. Oil It is slated to serve the domestic fuel market,
is now flowing to the plant through a pipeline turning out gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, LPG, resid-
that originates in southern Iraq, in fields near ual fuel oil and asphalt that comply with Euro-
Basra, the ministry noted in a statement. pean emissions standards. When it reaches full
Shipments of crude oil began slightly ahead capacity, its production will allow Iraq to reduce
of schedule, according to a separate report from petroleum product imports by approximately
Argus Media. The ministry had previously said 60%.
it expected the plant, which has a throughput Officials in Baghdad began floating plans for
capacity of 140,000 barrels per day (bpd), to start the refinery some time ago and awarded a con-
taking delivery of crude oil sometime in October sortium led by Hyundai (South Korea) a con-
and then launch trial operations before the end struction contract worth $6.4bn for the project
of 2022. in 2014. That contract called for the plant to be
Iraqi specialists are building the refinery at a completed by 2018, but the Iraqi government’s
site about 110 km south of Baghdad. Construc- uncertain finances caused the project to pro-
tion is not 100%, but gasoline-producing units ceed more slowly than anticipated. The original
are already in place, including a poly-naphtha deadline then slipped further behind as a result
unit and a fluid catalytic cracker. The poly-naph- of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and
tha unit is capable of producing gasoline with the decline in oil prices that it triggered.™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 39 28•September•2022