TEHRAN
Iran has opened its first oil export terminal in the Gulf of Oman to avoid using the strategic Strait of Hormuz shipping route that has long been a focus of regional tensions.
The new terminal, located near the port city of Jask, will allow tankers headed into the Arabian Sea and beyond to avoid the Strait of Hormuz at the head of the Persian Gulf, through which one-fifth of world oil output passes.
The Iranian plan for transferring Goreh crude oil to Jask Terminal bore fruition at initiative taken by the Ministry of Oil and National Iranian Oil Company and Iran’s oil export from Jask Terminal became operational for the first time.
Accordingly, the official process of loading and exporting the first shipment of Iranian crude oil from Jask Oil Terminal started at the order of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, so that the age-old objective of diversifying the origin of the country’s oil export was realised.
Benefited from maximum capabilities and capacities of competent Iranian companies, giant steps were taken by the Iranian Oil Ministry and National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) in transferring Goreh crude oil to Jask Oil Terminal in line with exporting the country’s crude oil from Jask Terminal for the first time in the country.
Iranian President Hassan Rohani said Iran aims to export one million barrels per day of oil from the facility, which officials said will cost some $2 billion.
Oil Minister Zanganeh said that “82 percent of this project has been completed and so far more than $1.2 billion has been spent on this.”
Iran’s main oil export terminal is located at Kharg inside the narrow strait, which is patrolled by warships of its arch-foe, the United States. There have been periodic confrontations between Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the US military in the area.
Iran has often threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz if its crude exports were shut down by U.S. sanctions, which have heavily impacted Iranian energy exports.
Washington reimposed the sanctions more than three years ago when then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.
Tehran and US President Joe Biden’s administration have been in indirect talks in Vienna since April to try to revive the agreement, under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in return for the lifting of most international sanctions.
