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TEHRAN, April 22 -Oman is planning to invite bids to build an undersea natural gas pipeline between Sohar and Iran next month, the Sultanate’s oil minister has said.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Mohammed Bin Hamad Al Rumhi told Thomson Reuters Projects that work related to seabed surveys, design of the pipeline and its accessories and the compressor stations have been completed.
“We are putting the final touches to the tender for the construction process to start.
Pending some formalities, the country would be ready to issue the notice to invite bids next month,” he said on the sidelines of the Kuwait Oil and Gas Summit on Tuesday.
Al Rumhi added that eight consortiums from across the globe have already expressed interest in involvement with the project.
“It is not very deep and is technically a small line in comparison to the region’s pipelines, with a capacity of one billion cubic feet a day,” he explained.
In August 2016, Reuters reported that Oman and Iran agreed to change the route and design of the planned pipeline to avoid waters controlled by the United Arab Emirates.
The report said both countries had renewed efforts to implement the project after the lifting of international sanctions on Tehran in 2016, but plans were considerably delayed by disagreements over price and US pressure on Muscat to find other suppliers.
The report also noted that the planned pipeline would connect Iran’s gas reserves to Omani consumers as well as liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in Oman that would re-export the gas.
“We are looking at building industries and at expanding our LNG production...we are also in talks with international oil companies for finance,” Al Rumhi said, adding that Oman is also talking to India to explore opportunities from the pipeline.
“We are talking about getting a pipeline done from India through Oman and need the goodwill and support from all stakeholders, neighbours,” the oil minister said.
A 2014 World Energy Council report placed Oman as having the smallest proved natural gas reserves at 705.4 billion cubic meters, relative to the rest of the region.
The report noted that the country produces more gas than it can consume, exporting gas via LNG and importing a smaller total of natural gas via pipeline trade.
Al Rumhi pointed out that Oman’s demand and supply gas balance is “healthy for quite a foreseeable future, till 2040.”
“We are looking at options on putting up new industries and expanding existing industries, so it is more market driven. Instead of regulating gas distribution, we want the market to decide what is best for us to monetize whatever we find,” he said.
Earlier this month, BP announced that it will develop the second phase of Oman’s giant Khazzan gas field after the successful start-up the first phase in September 2017.
The oil major said in a press statement that the first phase is currently producing at design capacity of around one billion cubic feet of gas per day and around 35,000 barrels a day of condensate.
The Ghazeer second phase is expected to come onstream in 2021 and deliver an additional 500 million cubic feet per day and over 15,000 bpd condensate production, the statement added.
Source: Reuters
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