Azerbaijan, Baku, July 25 /Trend D.Khatinoglu/
Iran, Iraq and Syria signed one of the biggest gas deals in the Middle East in the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone (PSEEZ), Mehr News Agency reported.
The first official agreement on gas export and transit between Iran, Iraq and Syria was signed by Iraqi oil minister Abdul Karim al-Luaibi and Syria's oil and mine minister Sofian Allaw and Iranian oil ministry caretaker Mohammad Aliabadi.
Iran, Syria and Iraq signed this agreement to export and transit gas from the South Pars through Iraq, Syria to Lebanon, Mediterranean Sea and European countries.
The so-called Islamic pipeline is considered to become a rival to Nabucco and South Stream pipeline's future rival.
It is expected that foreign companies and a consortium formed by Iran, Syria and Iraq will provide part of financial sources of the gas pipeline project and international consultant will realize the pipeline construction.
The project requires $10 billion investment and will be constructed within three years.
The pipeline length is more than 1,500 kilometers from Assaloyeh to Damascus with transfer capacity of 110 million cubic meters of natural gas per day. At present, construction of 661 kilometers of the pipeline is completed but the trio considers constructing a 5,600 kilometer pipeline to transfer 110 mcm natural gas in the future.