A few days ago, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced the inauguration of a new line to export oil from the port of Jask on the Sea of Oman, with a length of 1,000 kilometers and a cost of $2 billion.
The line can transport Iranian crude from the Koura area in the province of Bu Shahr to the port of Jask directly overlooking the Sea of Oman, thus avoiding the transit of tankers in the Gulf waters and the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
In his speech, Rouhani highlighted the importance of the project, saying: “Today our use of the Strait of Hormuz to export oil has ended, and for that reason, it is a historic day for the Iranian nation.”
Exporting from the Jask port will allow saving a few days of transportation for tankers, without the need to cross the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil exports pass, and has previously formed a point of tension, especially between Iran and the United States.
The Iranian oil pipeline is initially capable of exporting 300,000 barrels per day of crude, and will reach a capacity of one million barrels per day once it is fully ready in a few months.
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh says that Iran’s production could easily reach 6.5 million barrels per day when the strict economic sanctions imposed by Washington on Tehran over its nuclear program and the United States’ designation of a number of Iranian groups as terrorist organizations are lifted.
He added that the increase in Iranian oil production and exports will enhance Iran’s ability in talks with world powers to lift US sanctions that have prevented Iran from pumping at its full capacity since 2018.
Some sources estimate that Iran’s oil losses due to the US embargo have reached about $100 billion over the past three years.
It is worth noting that Iran has the fourth largest oil reserves in the world, and its economy depends mainly on oil revenues. Officials in the Iranian Oil Ministry say that Iran intends to increase production from 2.1 million barrels per day currently to 3.8 million barrels per day if the administration of US President Joe Biden and the Iranian government reach an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program.