Goreh-Jask oil pipeline to open Indian Ocean gates for Iranian oil

It is no secret that Islamic Republic Iran enjoys strategic geopolitical position. It is located at the heart of the world’s oil production center and the trade corridor connecting east and west. The country for more than four decades has been enduring sanctions. To counter the US strategy of Maximum Pressures, Iran has no option but to come up with new strategies for diversifying its exports and trade routes. Goreh-Jask oil pipeline is one of these initiatives.

This pipeline is going to provide Iran with an alternative route for the country’s crude oil exports that are currently carried out through the Strait of Hormuz. The pipeline will open a new gate for Iranian oil to the Indian Ocean by transferring oil from Goreh in Bushehr Province to Jask on the shores of Gulf of Oman. The pipeline project is nearing completion, as per the schedule.

Implementation of the Goreh-Jask pipeline is also in line with the country’s programs for the integrated development of Makran shores in the southeast, which has been one of the major policies of the country considering the significance of the trade with the South Asian countries.

According to the Managing Director of Iran's Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC) Touraj Dehqani, Goreh-Jask pipeline consists of 1,000 kilometers long 42-inch diameter acid-compatible pipes, five pumping stations, two pigging stations and a metering station at the end of the line.

“Offshore facilities also include wharves, support ports, and related loading facilities and pipelines. Also, electrical systems and storage facilities are under construction to be partly commissioned in the first phase.”

Dehqani stated that the first phase of this project with a capacity to transfer over 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day will be ready for operation by the end of the current Iranian calendar year. The transfer capacity of the pipeline can be increased up to 30 million barrels per day in the second phase, he said.

Despite all the limitations created by the external factors like the US sanctions, the decline of oil prices and the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the project has reached over 80 percent of physical progress in less than two years, a very significant achievement for the country’s oil industry.

Over 95 percent of the equipment, machinery, and technical parts used in this project have been supplied by domestic companies, another achievement for the country’s industrial sectors to overcome the hardships imposed by the sanctions and turn them into opportunities for flourishing in every aspect.

As one of the country’s most strategic project at the moment, the first phase of the Goreh-Jask oil pipeline is expected to come on stream by the end of this year and hopefully, Iran would need this new export hub at the Indian Ocean to come back to the oil market with full force after the US sanctions are lifted.