Iran Expects To Launch Makran Oil Facility Outside Persian Gulf By 2021 - Oil Minister

The new Iranian oil storage facility at Jask Port in Makran coastal strip is expected to be ready for launch by 2021 to facilitate Iran's oil exports in circumvention of the tensions-fraught Persian Gulf, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh told Sputnik on Thursday on the sidelines of the Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd October, 2019) The new Iranian oil storage facility at Jask Port in Makran coastal strip is expected to be ready for launch by 2021 to facilitate Iran's oil exports in circumvention of the tensions-fraught Persian Gulf, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh told Sputnik on Thursday on the sidelines of the Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow.

In August, Iran announced that amid the escalation of tensions in the Persian Gulf, it was developing a project that would enable it to export oil bypassing the strained area.

"At the moment, we are building a new oil terminal in the Makran strip near the city of Jask with an export capacity totaling one million barrels of oil per day. A pipeline is also under construction in that area. We hope for it all to be completed ... and the project to be launched by 2021," Zangeneh said.

Iran's oil infrastructure has so far been concentrated in its south-western part, especially along the northern Persian Gulf strip where numerous gas fields are located, so the new facility on the south-eastern edge of the Iranian coastline will introduce a diversification to it.

Tensions have escalated in the Persian Gulf over the past several months, to a large extent around the standoff between Iran and the United States. A series of attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz has worsened the situation, with Washington placing the blame on Iran and subsequently increasing its military buildup in the Gulf. Tehran has refuted all accusations.

In August, the United States called upon Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, South Korea and the United Kingdom, among others, to join a coalition that would ensure safe maritime passage through the strategic pathways of the Gulf by means of aerial surveillance and actual patrol ships. The United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates have already supported the plea. London has sent its Navy vessels Kent and Defender to join the Montrose and Duncan destroyers in the Hormuz Strait.

The international Russian Energy Week forum runs from October 2-5 in Moscow. The Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency is an official media partner of the event.