Alireza Gharibi, managing director of Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company, said the final tests as well as cleaning and calibration pigging on the pipeline are complete, and the pipeline will be ready to export Iranian natural gas by August 20.
He added that the pipeline, 48 inches in diameter, will be linked to Iran’s gas trunklines (IGATs) to deliver natural gas from Iran to Iraq.
In its first phase, the pipeline will carry 5mcm/d of natural gas from Iran to Iraq, he said, adding that the amount will raise once the line is linked to IGATs.
Iran has agreed to export 25 million cubic meters (mcm) a day of gas to Iraq, but the gas delivery will start at seven mcm per day.
The 270-kilometer pipeline stretches from the village of Charmaleh, located in Iran’s western province of Kermanshah, into the town of Naft Shahr on the border with Iraq.
The pipeline, which is estimated to earn Iran 3.7 billion dollars a year in revenues, will be fed by the massive offshore South Pars gas field in southern Iran.
The South Pars gas field, which Iran shares with Qatar in the Persian Gulf, is estimated to contain 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of condensate.
Iraq needs Iranian gas for power generation to solve a part of its load-shedding problem which is causing unrest in parts of the country during hot summer days.
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