Iran has announced agreements with Oman to convert part of its natural gas to LNG in the Sultanate.
The deal is part of Iran’s ambition to join the LNG retail market, the state-run Mehr News Agency says.
Alireza Kameli, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC), said the gas contract with Oman consists of two stages: One being basic marine engineering studies, for which a contract has been signed and a contractor chosen.
Kameli has said that the next phase would be selection of another contractor to construct pipelines to transfer Iran’s gas to Oman.
Stressing that the pipeline construction process would require at least two years, Kameli said, “The two countries have agreed that part of the transferred gas will be used by Oman and the rest will be devoted to LNG production (for Iran).”
On the Iran’s possible share in LNG market after the implementation of the agreement, Kameli said, “Currently, about 25 per cent of Omani LNG production plants’ capacity is empty. The total available capacity at Oman’s LNG plant mounts to 1.5mn tonnes per year, a part of which will be dedicated to Iran”
“In other words, on the basis of the new agreement the commission costs of Omani LNG plants will be paid by Iran,” he added.
Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh was quoted by Mehr as saying that one of the most important reasons of exporting gas to Oman was as participation in the LNG retail market.
“Exporting gas to Oman will provide the opportunity to sell Iran’s natural gas to other countries in particular Asian countries,” Zanganeh said.
According to an MoU which had been signed between Oman and Iran’s oil and energy ministers three years ago, the two countries agreed to build a gas pipeline.
The project of transferring gas from Iran’s Kish field to Oman will cover a 200km pipeline which for the most part would be located under the water.
As part of the first phase of the project, Iran will export 1mn cubic feet (mcf) of gas to the Sultanate, and plans to eventually raise it to 3bn cubic feet per day (bcf).
