Oman on Sunday reported a progress of 80 percent in preliminaries to launch a project to import natural gas from Iran through a key subsea pipeline.

Oman�s Ambassador to Tehran Saud bin Ahmad Al-Bardani has been quoted by IRNA news agency as saying that the pipeline project will have a significant contribution to the promotion of mutual trade between the two countries.

Al-Bardani further added that the impending removal of sanctions against Iran will help further boost the country�s trade with Oman.

Iran has been negotiating with Oman over the past several years to construct a 200-kilometer�subsea pipeline to take natural gas from its Kish field to the Persian Gulf sultanate.

In a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in 2012, Iran and Oman agreed in principle to construct this subsea pipeline.

A large part of the gas will be used to satisfy Oman�s domestic demand. Nevertheless, a new plan has been put on agenda to liquefy the gas into LNG and export it to international markets.

A senior Omani Oil Ministry official said in early December that Iran will soon sign an agreement with Oman over the exports of natural gas to the Persian Gulf country.

�The two countries negotiated signing the agreement for more than 3 to 4 years and we will soon witness signing gas deals between Iran and Oman,� said Ali Abdullah Al-Riyami, the director general of Oil and Gas Marketing in the Omani Ministry of Oil and Gas.

�I cannot say when the Iran-Oman gas deal will be signed, but conditions between the two countries are ripe for this contract,� he added.

The official emphasized that it may be too soon to say that the deal is going to be about LNG production with Iranian gas in Oman or not.

"We need to first come to agreement on some factors. It is worth saying that there are no limitations to these agreements, and both countries can benefit from them. For now we have to push this project towards realization," Al-Riyami was quoted by Iran�s media as saying.

By Press TV