TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran has formally inaugurated its new crude oil export terminal on the Sea of Oman, a project hailed by President Hassan Rouhani as a historic achievement which could prove vital in the country’s energy future.
The Goureh-Jask Crude Oil Transfer Project was inaugurated on Thursday during a video conference session attended by Rouhani and senior Oil Ministry officials in Tehran.
The project allows Iran for a first time in more than 110 years of its oil industry history to export crude from a terminal outside the Persian Gulf.
The terminal is also a first in a region where global oil producers are forced to dispatch crude tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf where ships have been subject to attacks and sabotage in the past.
Oil reaches Jask through a 1,000-kilometer pipeline that starts from old pumping station in Goureh in southwest Iran and stretches around the Persian Gulf while travelling through three southern provinces “Today is a historic and big day for the Iranian nation and as time passes by the significance of this project will become clearer for the people,” said Rouhani as he described the launch as a sign of utter failure for U.S.
He said the completion of the project by Iranian engineers using domestic potentials in such a short time of 2 years and a few month is a strong and firm response to all conspirators, especially the United States because oil was one of the most important elements in the list of American sanctions.
President Rouhani further noted the U.S. sanctions targeted two important areas of oil exports and supply of basic goods because they knew if Iran faced a reduction in oil exports, it would it would no longer have any foreign exchange to meet its needs especially at a time it has to provide $ 6 million in medicine.
The report said some 250 Iranian companies had contributed to the construction and engineering work in a project that took more than two years to complete.
Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said the new terminal in Jask kicks off with 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude exports as he insisted that a target of 1 million bpd will be within reach by March when a third and final phase of the project is finished.
A total of 53,000 billion tomans has been invested in the construction of this pipeline, and with its official operation, sustainable employment will be created for 10,000 people.
Explaining the plan and the process of its implementation and operation, Zanganeh described the day as a historical occasion for the Iranian oil industry as the export of the Iranian crude oil from the Makran region begins.
According to the Minister, more than 250 companies have been involved in the project which he described as “huge national project, which was implemented and operated under the harsh sanctions and economic war.”
He said the project will pave the way for economic development in the Makran region.
Earlier, the chief of the National Iranian Oil Company announced that pumping oil into strategic Goreh-Jask pipeline will start upon its completion by the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in near future.
Masoud Karbasian said that the pipeline will bring oil from Goreh in Bushehr to Jask, making it strategically important as the country’s second-largest crude oil export terminal.
The pipeline is laid from Goreh oil terminal in the southwestern Bushehr Province to Jask oil terminal along the Gulf of Oman.
He added that other operating units in Goreh-Jask pipeline project are in a steady situation to transfer oil to Jask terminal, and pumping oil into strategic Goreh-Jask pipeline is being done in a steady situation.
Referring to the importance of the project, Karbasian added that operations have begun to start injecting oil into the 1,000km Goreh-Jask pipeline.
