ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Saturday that US sanctions have made it difficult for Iran to execute natural gas pipeline projects with Pakistan, Iraq, and the Gulf region.
“International companies were not ready to partake in the bidding process due to sanctions,” Zanganeh told a press conference on Saturday in relation to the 200km projected gas pipeline to Oman.
“The Omanis were not present for the tender … the figure for the bid is not high and could be procured but we have no technology to lay pipelines in deep water.”
Since US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement last year and re-imposition of the “toughest ever” sanctions on Iran in November, Tehran’s exports have declined sharply and Iran finds it difficult to hire enough tankers to transport its oil.
Iran is planning to export natural gas to Pakistan, Syria, and Lebanon through pipelines, but these projects seem to have stalled too.
“We have done the relevant work for this project to a large extent but Pakistan has done no work in relation to the gas pipeline from Iran,” Zanganeh said in the southern town of Assaluyeh ahead of an inauguration of four new phases of the South Pars gas field, the largest gas field in the world.
“They claim there are political reasons and say they are under pressure from Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, for whatever reason. This pipeline has a legitimate agreement which needs to be executed.”
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh. File photo: AP
The involvement of the main engineering arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters, which has been blacklisted since 2010 by the Treasury Department, will present a real challenge for Minister Zanganeh to proceed with the contracts with Iraq, Pakistan, and Oman.
Iran is currently exporting around 1.25 million barrels of oil per day, but the Trump administration want to reduce that figure to below one million by May.
The waivers issued by the Trump administration for eight countries are expected to come up for renewal in May. Reuters reported on March 14 that Washington plans to renew the waivers if these countries pledge to bring their import from Iran down by 20 percent.
Zanganeh was asked whether the reports are true.
“I don’t know if they would be renewed or not. We are doing our own work because they change their words every day … they change their words every day, I advise them to say less … for a year, the Americans have caused tension in the oil market and made it volatile,” the oil minister said.
Zanganeh, whose ministry is bearing the brunt of the sanctions, was equally evasive about the possible export of natural gas to Syria and Lebanon via Iraq.
“On Iraq, we suggested to get gas to this country and then from there to other countries, but I was not with Rouhani on his latest trip and I am not aware how the negotiations have progressed,” the minister said referring to the three day official visit to Iraq by President Hassan Rouhani earlier this week.
“The Iraqis are always with us in words.”
Zanganeh lamented the widespread nepotism and corruption at the highest echelons of power, claiming his advisor’s email had been hacked by dark forces.
He also launched a scathing attack on former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who claimed in a recent interview that the Rouhani government had not repatriated $30 billion of oil money.
“Mr Ahmadinejad made some statements all of which were lies … He claimed to be able to raise the price of oil to $100,” Zanganeh said, mocking the former president according to the ministry’s news website SHANA.
“I also think he can do that ... He can do something that within one hour six resolutions would be issued against Iran and oil export would become zero.”