An Omani delegation will visit Iran next week to discuss the Iran-Oman submarine gas pipeline project, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) said, Shana news agency reported on Wednesday.
Alireza Kameli reiterated Iranian and Omani officials will meet in Tehran to select an operator to study the feasibility of the 260km-long pipeline. "The two sides are looking forward to finalizing the pipeline project."
The pipeline is divided into two phases of on-the-ground and deep-sea and studies for the execution of both phases will be carried out together to accelerate the project's development.
In 2013, Iran signed a memorandum of understating to lay a deep-sea pipeline for gas exports to the Sultanate of Oman within a short-time frame. Nonetheless, the proposed 260km pipeline between the two countries has yet to be built, which could take almost 3 years to be completed.
The agreement, estimated at $60 billion, calls for supply of 20 million cubic meters of natural gas per day to Oman for 25 years. According to plans, the pipeline will go through Hormozgan Province in the south of Iran to the city of Sohar in Oman.
