Tehran, Muscat Ink LNG Deal: Iranian Official


Tehran, Muscat Ink LNG Deal: Iranian Official

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An Iranian official said Tehran has signed an agreement with Muscat to convert part of its gas to LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) in Oman.

Alireza Kameli, managing director of National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC), said “currently, about 25 percent of Omani LNG production plants’ capacity is empty," The Times of Oman reported on Wednesday.

He added that Iran plans to dedicate the empty capacity in Oman’s plants to Iranian LNG. 

“It means, on the basis of the new agreement, the commission costs of Omani LNG plants will be paid by Iran. The total available capacity at Oman’s LNG plant mounts to 1.5 million tons per year a part of which will be dedicated to Iran,” he added.

Reminding that Iran will own the produced LNG being in charge of its marketing, he said, “Normally, participation in the market will be more convenient for us because the project will be carried out in joint collaboration with Oman which already has its own costumers.”

Kameli 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 has been chosen.

He maintained that the next phase would be selection of another contractor to construct pipelines to transfer Iran’s gas to Oman.

“Accordingly, 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,” he added.

According to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which had been signed between Iran and Oman’s oil and energy ministers three years ago, the two sides agreed to begin construction of a gas pipeline from Iran to Oman.

The project of transferring gas from Kish field to Oman will cover a 200-kilometre pipeline which for the most part would be located under the water; in the first phase of the project, one million cubic feet of gas will be transferred while by development of other faces this amount will increase to three billion cubic feet per day.

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