The oil ministers of Iraq, Iran and Syria have signed a preliminary agreement for a USD 10 billion natural gas pipeline deal. The agreement was inked in the Assalouyeh industrial region in Bushehr by Iranian oil minister Mohammad Aliabadi, Iraq’s oil minister Abdul Kareem Luaiby, and Syrian counterpart Sufian Alow. Iranian oil officials have confirmed that Syria will purchase between 20 million to 25 million CUM a day of Iranian gas. Iraq has already signed an agreement with Tehran to buy up to 25 million CUM a day to feed its power stations. Construction of the project will take three years. The pipeline length is over 1500km from Assalouyeh to Damascus passing through Iraq, with a transfer capacity of 110 million CUM of natural gas a day. The gas will be produced from the Iranian South Pars gas field in the Gulf, with estimated reserves of 16 trillion CUM of recoverable gas.
