The announcement was made by Iran’s Petroleum Minister Bijan Zanganeh after meeting Oman’s Oil and Gas Minister Mohammed Bin Hamad Al Rumhy in Tehran, Iran’s SHANA news agency reported.

He said that discussions over how the project will be implemented will finalize by the end of February.

Zanganeh added that representatives from several global energy companies had also participated in the meeting to present their proposals for carrying out the project.

He said the companies included France’s Total, Royal/Dutch Shell, South Korea’s Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS), Germany’s Uniper and Japan’s Mitsui.

Also on Tuesday, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and the Ministry of Oil and Gas of Oman signed a framework agreement for extending another one they had signed before.

Based on an agreement signed in 2013, Iran will export 28 million cubic meters of gas to Oman per day for a period of 15 years through a pipeline that will go to the sultanate through the Persian Gulf.

Almost a third of the gas exported by Iran to Oman will be turned into liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the sultanate’s Qalhat plant, and the rest will be consumed domestically.

Zanganeh further emphasized that the preliminaries of the project had already started, adding that a map for the route of the pipeline would be ready within the next few months.

About NIGC

The National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) was established in 1965 as one of the four principal companies affiliated to the Ministry of Petroleum of the Islamic Republic of Iran.