Investors Eyeing Iran-Iraq-Syria-Europe Pipeline

Seven international investors have announced they are ready to participate in the Islamic pipeline project, which would transit Iranian natural gas to Iraq, Syria, and Europe, the Iranian deputy oil minister said here on Thursday.

“Seven international investors have announced their readiness to finance, design, and construct the pipeline that will transport 110 million cubic meters of Iranian natural gas to Iraq, Syria, and European countries per day,” the IRNA news agency quoted Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Javad Owji as saying.

Owji added that talks are underway to prepare the ground to launch the construction of the multi-billion-dollar project by the beginning of the next Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2012).

Last month, Iran, Iraq, and Syria signed a 10-billion-dollar deal for the transit of Iranian gas from Iran’s South Pars gas field to Europe.

According to the deal, Iranian gas will be pumped to European countries, including Greece, via a 5,000-kilometer pipeline crossing Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and the Mediterranean Sea.

In July, Owji had said that Iran has the capability to produce 600 million cubic meters of gas per day and noted that the output will double when new phases of the South Pars gas field come on stream over the next few years.

The gas pipeline project will take three to five years to complete, he stated.

Source: Tehran Times