TEHRAN – Given Iran’s geopolitical position - being located at the heart of the world’s oil production center, that is West Asia, and intersecting the trade corridor between east and west- and considering the sanctions, and unjust pressures imposed by some world powers against the country; for more than a decade, the Islamic Republic has been following new strategies for diversifying its export routes in the country’s southern borders to nullify such pressures and reach its full economic potentials.

Now the country’s Goreh-Jask oil pipeline has become the realization of such efforts.

The mentioned pipeline is going to provide Iran with an alternative route for the country’s crude oil exports that are currently carried out through the Strait of Hormuz. The pipeline will open a new gate for Iranian oil to the Indian Ocean by transferring it from Goreh in Bushehr Province to Jask on the shores of Oman Gulf.

The pipeline project has currently reached nearly 80 percent of physical progress and is nearing completion based on the schedule.

Implementation of the Goreh-Jask pipeline is also in line with the country’s programs for the integrated development of Makran shores in the southeast, which has been one of the major policies of the country considering the significance of the trade with the South Asian countries.

According to the Managing Director of Iran's Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC) Touraj Dehqani, Goreh-Jask pipeline consists of 1,000 kilometers (km) of 42-inch acid-compatible pipes, five pumping stations, two pigging stations, and a metering station at the end of the line.

“Offshore facilities also include wharves, support ports, and related loading facilities and pipelines. Also, electrical systems and storage facilities are under construction to be partly commissioned in the first phase.”

Dehqani stated that the first phase of this project with a capacity to transfer over 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day will be ready for operation by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2021).

The transfer capacity of the pipeline can be increased up to 30 million barrels per day in the second phase of the project, he said.

Despite all the limitations created by the external factors like the U.S. sanctions, the decline of oil prices and the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the project has reached over 80 percent of physical progress in less than two years and this is a very significant achievement for the country’s oil industry.

Over 95 percent of the equipment, machinery, and technical parts used in this project have been supplied by domestic companies and this is also another achievement for the country’s industrial sectors that were able to overcome the hardships imposed by the sanctions and turn them into opportunities for flourishing in every aspect.

As one of the country’s most strategic project at the moment, the first phase of the Goreh-Jask oil pipeline is expected to come on stream by the end of this year and hopefully, Iran would need this new export hub at the Indian Ocean to come back to the oil market with full force after the U.S. sanctions are nullified.

EF/MA