Page 44 - IRANRptSep21

Iran steals march on Gulf oil export rivals with opening of terminal south of Hormuz chokepoint
Iran pushes for oil export boost as ‘quickly as possible’
Province. The pipeline connects the Goreh oil terminal to Jask, with crude flows from West Karoun entering the system at the Omidieh pumping station. The 1,000-km pipeline is part of the wider, Goreh-Jask Crude Oil Transfer Project, which cost a total of $2bn and includes the new Jask Oil Terminal (JOT), which began loading crude from its strategic location outside the Strait of Hormuz last week.
A cargo of 300,000 barrels of heavy crude was loaded on to an Aframax vessel, though the buyer and destination of the shipment were not disclosed. With Jask expected to ease reliance on the Kharg Island terminal, through which around 90% of the country’s exports currently flow, Zanganeh outlined plans for the further development of the Makran region where Jask is located. “The permits to implement three refinery projects with a capacity of 900,000 barrels [per day] of crude oil in this region have been issued and these plants are being built. Furthermore, a BOT project to build 10mn barrel crude oil storage tanks with an investment of more than $230mn by the private sector is under way in the region.”
There are also plans in place to expand oil storage capacity to 30mn barrels.
Iran has stolen a march on its Persian Gulf oil export rivals with the opening of a new oil terminal that lies south of the Strait of Hormuz. Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait that ship oil via the Gulf must still send their tankers through the narrow strait—which can very easily become a chokepoint should there be any deliberate or accidental blockage—but Iran can now bypass the waterway by sending crude to the terminal in Jask, on the Gulf of Oman, launched on July 23.
Simmering tensions in the Strait of Hormuz—through which around one fifth of world oil passes—triggered surging oil prices early last year.
The strait is "the world's most important chokepoint for waterborne crude," Rystad Energy analyst Bjornar Tonhaugen told AFP, adding: "This [new terminal] may reduce the risk premium of crude prices. Iran has now a strategic ability to keep some of its oil exports to the world market running in... an extreme event."
Iran built a 1,000-kilometre (625-mile) pipeline to carry oil from Goreh in its southwestern Bushehr province to Jask. Its other main oil export terminal is in the Gulf port of Kharg, accessed via the Strait.
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has said that Iran would return to the markets “as quickly as possible” when US sanctions were lifted, regardless of OPEC’s position on the country’s re-entry to the international oil markets, NIPNA reported on July 5.
The 18th meeting of oil and energy ministers of member and non-member producers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is ongoing this week in line with the Saudi Arabian representative to the group praising his Iranian counterparts efforts during his tenure on July 4.
After the the latest session Zanganeh said to the reporters that at the meeting, he had announced that whenever the sanctions were lifted, Iran would return to the market and reach at least the production prior to the sanctions in the shortest possible time
Zangeneh said that the country has “several measures” to ensure it can raise crude production in a “short period of time” if US sanctions are removed from Iran’s exports.
Zangeneh repeated calls that the country can boost its production to 6mn b/d as part of efforts to boost exports to international markets without specifying the country has these sitting in tankers or on land.
44 IRAN Country Report September 2021 www.intellinews.com