Close to 60% of steel pipes to wrap up the construction of a 1,100km 42-inch diameter pipeline to transfer oil to the southeastern port of Jask in Hormozgan Province will be manufactured domestically, managing director of the Petroleum Engineering and Development Co. said Wednesday.
"Ahvaz Industrial Pipe Company, Isfahan-based Mobarakeh Steel Company and Khouzestan Oxin Steel Company will collaborate to produce the special steel sheet and pipes for the project," Touraj Dehghani was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Dehghani said prior to the second round of US sanctions announced in May, PEDEC, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, had to procure 20,000 tons of [API 5L X60 and NACE] steel plate sheets from Germany and China because has been deprived of the technology to produce such goods. However, due to financial constraints to import the remaining sheets domestic companies indigenized the platform to manufacture the pipes.
As per a contract between NIOC and the three firms, the latter will supply PEDEC with 550 kilometers of pipes, of which 60km have been manufactured and are being transferred to Bushehr Province.
Referring to the workforce, he said native workers and engineers in Bushehr, Fars and Hormozgan provinces have been given priority for employment.
The pipeline is being laid to supply a million barrels of oil from Goureh Oil Terminal in the northwest of Bushehr Province to the west of Jask region off the Sea of Oman. Estimated cost of the project is $2 billion and it is expected to be completed in 2021.
In addition to laying the pipeline, the project includes building 20 crude oil storage facilities, pumping stations and one oil export terminal.
When ready Jask Oil Terminal will have the capacity to store up to 30 million barrels and export one million barrels per day of crude, the company said. According to the official, the new terminal will help ease tanker traffic at Kharg Oil Terminal in the Persian Gulf that handles 90% of Iran’s oil exports.
Moving the main oil export terminal from Kharg to Jask will have the advantage that Iranian oil tankers will not have to pass through the crowded Strait of Hormuz. The strategic strait is the world’s most important chokepoint through which 20 million barrels of oil passes every day.
