Omani minister: Iran gas pipeline project progressing
Oman’s Energy Minister Salim al-Aufi has said a long-stalled project to lay an undersea pipeline to carry Iranian gas to Oman is finally progressing.
According to Aufi, Tehran and Muscat have agreed to form a technical team to review the progress of the Iran-Oman gas pipeline project, Press TV reported.
“The Iranians have progressed well in completing the pipeline project and made good achievements,” he was quoted by Omani media as saying.
CEO of Iran Gas Engineering and Development Company Reza Noshadi recently said that Tehran had begun laying the pipeline for transfer of gas to Oman from Minab to Kuh Mubarak near the Iranian port of Jask.
The agreement to revive the project was reached during a trip to Oman by Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji ahead of an official visit to the Persian Gulf Arab state by Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi about a year ago.
Last month, Aufi visited Tehran where the two countries “seriously” discussed various issues related to the project, including the mechanism of Iran’s gas sales to Oman.
“With Iran’s gas in Oman, all options are there,” Aufi said in his new interview.
The revival of the project could also bring a joint LNG plan back to life, while Oman is further laying out for production of hydrogen which is generated from natural gas, but uses carbon capture technology to curb up to 90% of the resulting emissions.
According to Aufi, Oman can meet its gas needs for the next 10 years, but imports from Iran can allow his country to convert the imported gas to liquid gas or blue hydrogen and expand its domestic industries or re-export it to India and the UAE.
Omani economic research Majid bin Abed al Kharusi said receiving Iranian gas at a preferential price would help reduce costs and increase growth opportunities in the Arab country’s economic and industrial areas.
Moreover, strategic projects are a boon to the security and stability of the region, he added.
Oman, Kharusi said, sees Iran - which holds the world’s second largest gas reserves - as an economic development partner.
He touched on the recent breakthrough in diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, saying the normalization has deepened ties between Tehran and Muscat.
“Muscat believes that political isolation is not in the interest of any party in the region, but rather deepens conflicts and harms the interests of all parties. Hence, good political relations with Iran as a neighbor will positively reflect on various economic and commercial aspects,” he added.
In 2013, the two countries signed a deal, valued at $60 billion over 25 years, for Iran to supply gas to Oman through an undersea pipeline.
The 176-kilometer offshore pipeline connects to an onshore section, which runs underwater from Iran’s Kuh Mubarak port to Sohar in Oman. It has to traverse the deeper waters of the Sea of Oman because of the UAE’s apparent opposition to the pipeline’s passage through its shallows, increasing the time and cost of the construction.