TEHRAN Sept. 20 (Shana) � Iran and Iraq have finalized the development plan for construction of the gas pipeline to carry gas to the neighboring Arab country, and its contract is in final stage of being drafted, said international relations director at the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC).
�The Iraqi side has started the initial executive work too� Azizollah Ramezani told Shana.
Despite of security reasons in Iraq, he added, the project is still on the agenda but has faced delays in decision making.

�The contract executive phase for the export of 25 mcm gas to Iraq will start after its signature,� he added.
NIGC is ready to supply Iraq with up to 35 million cubic meters of gas on a daily basis given a new amendment to the gas export contract.
The amount will be delivered to Iraq's city of Basra mainly for generation of electricity during 5 hot months of the year.

The gas transfer to Iraq will begin with 5mcmc/d which will reach 35mcm/d by completion of a gas pipeline project from Iran, Ramezani said.
Iran completed its share of the 97-km pipeline in late August.

Alireza Gharibi, managing director of Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company, earlier in July that the final tests as well as cleaning and calibration pigging on the pipeline were completed and the pipeline was ready to export Iranian natural gas on August 20.
The pipeline, 48 inches in diameter, is also linked to Iran�s gas trunklines (IGATs) to deliver natural gas from Iran to Iraq.

In its first phase, the pipeline will carry 5mcm/d of natural gas from Iran to Iraq, and the amount will raise once the line is linked to IGATs.
The 270-kilometer pipeline stretches from the village of Charmaleh, located in Iran�s western province of Kermanshah, into the town of Naft Shahr on the border with Iraq.

The pipeline, which is estimated to earn Iran 3.7 billion dollars a year in revenues, will be fed by the massive offshore South Pars gas field in southern Iran.
The South Pars gas field, which Iran shares with Qatar in the Persian Gulf, is estimated to contain 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of condensate.

Iraq needs Iranian gas for power generation to solve a part of its load-shedding problem which is causing unrests in parts of the country during hot summer days.
Besides the envisaged gas supply, Iran will also provide neighboring Iraq with training programs for its technical, financial and executive manpower, he added.

By SHANA