Iran has started discussion with Oman on using spare capacity of Oman LNG, to process its gas for exports.
Addressing the annual media briefing in Muscat on Sunday, Dr. Mohammed bin Hamad Al Rumhy, Oman’s Minister of Oil and Gas, said that Oman LNG has a spare capacity of 1.5mn tonnes per annum, which can be used by Iran for liquefying its natural gas.
“That would be the sort of volume we are talking about,” he told reporters.
Oman LNG has three trains, with a combined capacity of 10.4mn tonnes per annum.
Presently, the LNG produced from Oman LNG’s three-train plant facility in Sur is sold to markets in Asia and Europe. Over 1,900 cargoes have been exported from the Sultanate since production began in 2000.
Al Rumhy said the serious discussion with Iran is for building a 260km-long natural gas pipeline between the two countries to import natural gas.
“Work is underway for identifying the optimum route. We are making progress. But this kind of projects will take time,” Al Rumhy added. The proposed pipeline will connect the Iranian province of Hormuzgan to Sohar in Oman.
Iran has signed an agreement to export 10bn cubic metres of gas per year to Oman in a deal that involves building a pipeline at a cost of about $1bn.
Both countries signed a memorandum of understanding in 2014 for the sale of Iranian gas to Oman for a 25-year deal valued at around $60bn.
Iran sits on the world’s largest gas reserves, according to the latest statistics compiled by BP, but the country was prevented from exporting much of it until the sanctions were lifted recently.
Oman’s natural gas production, which was at 103mn cubic metres per day in 2015, will increase substantially once BP’s Khazzan project starts production and Iran starts pumping gas to the Sultanate.
