Page 58 - IRANRptMar21

Goreh-Jask oil pipeline project update
was agreed with the Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Co. (IOEC) which previously picked up a job on the third phase of the Maroun oilfield.
Meanwhile, PetroIran Development Co. (PEDCO) was awarded work on the Binak oilfield, following the August award of a job on the 3.7bn barrel Mansourabad oilfield.
Work on the Solabdar field was apportioned to a consortium of Qeshm Oil and Energy Industries and Maroun Karan, which also jointly won a contract for projects 1 and 4 at the supergiant Ahvaz field in August. Ahvaz was discovered in 1958, holding 63bn barrels of oil in place and is operated by NIOC subsidiary Karoun Oil and Gas Production Co. (KOGPC).
A consortium of the National Iranian Drilling Co. (NIDC) and Jahanpars Engineering & Construction Co. was a repeat winner, adding a job on the Lali Bangestan field to the contract for the Balaroud oilfield they won in August. Khatam-al Anbiya Construction Headquarters (KAA), the engineering arm of the hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was awarded by far the largest contract covering work on the second, third and fifth phases of Ahvaz as well as the offshore Reshadat.
Meanwhile, Mashin Sazi Arak in which KAA is known to hold shares was awarded a deal for the Bibi Hakimeh oilfield which has around 500mn barrels of oil remaining.
While these contract awards to local companies should come as little surprise to Iran watchers given Tehran propensity for pushing forward with the development of domestic assets without the help of foreign firms prohibited from entering the Iranian market by US-led sanctions, they are perhaps more noteworthy because of the clear expanding influence of the KAA.
Iran’s Petroleum Engineering and Development Co. (PEDEC) has said that work on the first phase of Iran’s strategic Goreh-Jask oil pipeline project is now more than 70% complete.
The company’s deputy director of the project, Ali Jafarzadeh reiterated that the phase will be completed by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, which ends on March 20.
In December, PEDEC’s managing director Touraj Dehghani said that the first phase would have a capacity of more than 300,000 bpd with more than 400km of pipe having now been laid. Meanwhile, the full 1,000km project will have a total capacity of 1mn bpd when complete by the end of 2021.
Work began on the line last April, with President Hassan Rouhani saying at the time that “Jask will turn into Iran’s key hub of oil exports.”
The pipeline will link the Gulf port city of Goreh in Bushehr province to Jask on the Sea of Oman. At present the Kharg Island terminal in the Gulf accounts for 90% of the country’s oil exports.
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. The Jask port will feature 20 tanks with a total storage capacity of 10mn barrels of crude, with plans in plans to expand export infrastructure.
9.2.2 ​Automotive corporate news
Iran Khodro to release semi-automatic gearbox
Iran Khodro (IKCO), Iran’s partially state-owned automotive behemoth, has announced a new six-speed semi-automatic gearbox with a 70% localised production, ISNA reported on March 1.
IKCO, which previously worked with Stelantis (previously PSA Group) prior to the imposition of new US sanctions, continues to provide much of the personal
58​ IRAN Country Report March 2021 www.intellinews.com