Page 6 - MEOG Week 26

MEOG Pi P elines & t rans P ort MEOG

Rouhani kicks off work

on pipe skirting Hormuz

iran IRANIAN President Hassan Rouhani last week on the project, with the remaining funds to be
officially launched work on an oil pipeline link- provided by local investors.
ing the Gulf port city of Goreh in Bushehr prov- The Jask port will feature 20 tanks with a total
ince to Jask on the Sea of Oman. Middle East Oil storage capacity of 10mn barrels of crude, with
& Gas (MEOG) understands that construction plans in plans to expand export infrastructure.
work began nearly two months earlier.
The key significance of Jask is that it is located Gas link
outside the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz on the While work has been ongoing on a 2,775-km gas
Sea of Oman, meaning oil shipped from there pipeline to Pakistan for what seems like an eter-
may avoid any disruption to routes caused by the nity, Iran has also sought to make use of other
Islamic Republic’s showdown with the uS and regional allies.
Saudi Arabia over sanctions and its refusal to In particular, a subsea pipeline has long been
respect the 2015 nuclear deal. in the works that would link southern Iran with
Speaking during a ceremony to inaugurate gas export facilities in Oman.
the project, Rouhani was quoted by the local A memorandum of understanding (Mou)
Tasnim news agency as saying: “What is strate- was signed between Tehran and Muscat in 2014
gic about this project is that many countries in for the latter to import at least 10bcm per year of
the region have managed to find a second way so gas from Iran for 25 years beginning in 2017. In
that they can export their oil using other routes 2018, National Iranian Gas Export Co. (NIGEC)
whenever the Strait of Hormuz faces danger. managing director Mehran Amir-Moeini said
Alternative methods could be exporting oil last year that 43bcm per year would be imported
through the Red Sea, the Sea of Oman or the for 15 years. This represents a total increase of
Mediterranean.” 395 bcm.
Rouhani added that the 1mn barrel per day The land section of the project is expected
pipeline would come into operation in March to comprise a 200 km, 56-inch pipe to run from
2021, allowing crude exports from Jask to Rudan to Mobarak Mount in Iran’s southern
increase. “Jask will turn into Iran’s key hub of oil Hormuzgan province. The subsea section will be
exports,” he added. At present the Kharg Island 192 km in length, with a diameter of 36 inches
terminal in the Gulf accounts for 90% of the (889 mm), and this will run along the seabed at
country’s oil exports. depths of up to 1,340 metres, from Iran to the
A deal was signed for pumps for the conduit’s Omani port of Sohar.
five pump stations in October 2019. National The deal agreed in 2014 was intended by Iran
Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) subsidiary Petroleum to enter, by proxy, the LNG market by utilising
Engineering and Development Co. (PEDEC) unused export capacity at Oman LNG.™
signed the deal with three Iranian industrial
manufacturers to produce pumps for the 1,000
km pipeline.
Rouhani said that around 400km of 42-inch
pipeline has already been built to move sour
crude, adding that it would also be capable of
transporting condensate.
Iranian firms are relying on local technol-
ogy to continue the expansion of Iran’s oil and
gas industry because foreign companies are no
longer willing to enter the marketplace due to
anxiety that they might get hit by uS sanctions.
Backed by the Ministry of Petroleum (MoP)
and Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, the contract is
estimated to be worth $52.5mn with completion
anticipated in 2024.
Of the $1.8bn total project cost, the Goreh-
Jask pipeline is anticipated to come in at around
$1.1bn, with the remainder being spent on the
development of the port.
Also speaking at the ceremony, Zanganeh
said that around $300mn had so far been spent

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 26 01•July•2020