The National Iranian South Oilfields Company has finalized a tripartite contract with a steel company and an oil pipeline company to build 280 kilometers of pipelines, IRNA quoted an NISOC official as saying on Sunday. Bijan Aalipour, NISOC managing director, said based on the 9.3-trillion-rial contract ($345.3 million at official currency exchange rate) the steel company will produce the steel plates necessary for the pipes, which are of 42 and 48-inch sizes. The NISOC officials say the company, in its new pipeline projects, will make sure that the pipeline will preclude environmental contamination as a result of possible oil leaks. The NISOC has the potential capacity to produce 3.2 million barrels of crude oil per day. It is a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), accounting for 80% of oil production in the southern provinces of Khuzestan, Bushehr, Fars, and Kohgilouyeh-Boyer Ahmad.
