Currently, the Iranian adviser for studying (the subsea section of) the pipeline for 200 kilometers from Kuh-e Mubarak to Omans Sohar port has been chosen, head the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Alireza Kamelisaid Wednesday.
The onshore section of the pipeline in Iran will be built for another 200 km from Rudan to Kuh-e Mubarak, he added.
According to the plan, engineering studies in both the offshore and onshore sections will be carried out simultaneously so that the implementation of the two lines does not hita snag, Kameli added.
The $60 billion deal was concluded during President Hassan Rouhanis visit to Muscat in 2013 to ship 10million cubic meters per day of the Iranian gas to Oman for a period of 15 years.
The two countries signed another deal in 2007 to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Oman to process the Iranian gas.
Oman has undertaken to pay the entire cost of the pipeline and the related infrastructure, according to Irans Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh.
Gas exports to Oman and entry intoits retail market will make it possible to sell the Iranian natural gas to the region, especially Asian countries, he has said.
On Wednesday, Kameli said the Persian Gulf littoral states are Irans top priority for gas exports in the face of requests by European companies.
Currently, many countries have voiced readiness to invest in our upstream and downstream gas sector and are seriously pushing for imports of the Iranian gas.
Although we cannot ignore the European gas market, exports to Europe come later in our priorities, Kameli said.
For the gas transfer to Europe, Iran has ruled out the pipeline option which is too costly. Officials, instead, have hinted at LNG shipments but the first cargo is not believed to come aboutat least in the near future.
LNG constitutes 31% of the worlds gas trade, with 70% of it going to Asia and the Middle East, Kameli said in June, adding there are currently 60 LNG import terminals in Asia, with plans to build 40 more.
By Press TV
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