Baku, Azerbaijan, June 6
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran plans to construct a pipeline to Iraq to export oil products there, says Abbas Kazemi, Iran's deputy oil minister.
Creating a pipeline between Iran and Iraq will reduce the tankers' traffic between the two countries, which is more economic, and will reduce the environmental impact and security risks as well, Kazemi said, Mehr news agency reported June 6.
He elaborated that based on the talks with the Iraqi officials, the pipeline is planned to transport the oil products from the Iranian city of Abadan to the Iraqi province of Basra.
No significant progress has been made so far in the pipeline's construction due to the domestic problems in Iraq, added Kazemi.
Iran also plans to make some changes in the configuration of its oil pipelines for the Iraqi oil tankers to enter the country less, he said.
Kazemi added that the construction of pipelines for exporting oil products will also decrease the volume of fuel smuggling from Iran into the neighboring countries.
Iran has already stretched a pipeline to its Naftshahr city on the border with Iraq to supply natural gas to its neighbor.
Iran is yet to complete the 6th cross-country pipeline, which is to have 110 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) of gas transiting capacity, linking its South Pars gas field to Iraq's borders.
After the border, the pipeline will run in two routes. The first route is meant to transit 25 mcm/d of gas to Iraq's capital, Baghdad, and the second route is planned to deliver the same amount of gas to Basra.