Iran Starts Pumping Oil into Goreh-Jask Pipeline

The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will soon begin transferring oil through the Goreh-Jask pipeline, which runs from the Goreh oil terminal in the Bushehr Province to Jask oil terminal along the Gulf of Oman.

The 1,000-km (620 mile) Goreh-Jask pipeline cost about US$1.8 billion to build and will be able to transfer 300,000 bpd. That transfer should begin in “the upcoming days,” said Touraj Dehghani, Managing Director of Petroleum Engineering and Development Company.

“All parties involved in the project are working round-the-clock and are attempting to launch the first phase of this strategic plan. The Pumphouse No 2, as the ‘beating heart’ of the first phase of the project, will be completed and launched in the next few days,” Mr Dehghani said.

Iran has been planning since at least 2012 to set up the Jask terminal, just outside and bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, and NIOC recently said it plans to start shipping crude from the terminal next month.

While Iran is under US sanctions which effectively bar it from selling oil, it has increased exports this year by often disguising the origin of the shipments, Bloomberg reported. Refiners in China are the main buyers, the report states.

“Production of transmission valves, electric pumps, laying a thousand kilometres of pipeline along with the construction of storage tanks, terminals and the single point mooring (SPM) in Jask port using domestic capacities shows the national determination for completing this great and strategic project,” said NIOC CEO Masoud Karbasian, the Tehran Times reported, adding that the Goreh-Jask oil transfer project is the largest project in Iran’s oil industry.

Source: Pipeline & Gas Journal