S Korea signs on to trans-Iran pipeline

Press TV - Iran and a South Korean company have signed a contract to construct a 1680-kilometer pipeline to transport oil from the Caspian Sea to the Sea of Oman.

The pipeline, which will transport crude oil from the port of Neka in northern Iran to the port of Jask in the south of the country, will facilitate oil swaps with Caspian Sea littoral states, the Mehr news agency reported on Friday. 

It is expected that the construction of the pipeline will cost 3.3 to 3.7 billion US dollars. 

According to the report, Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi recently said that a contract has been signed with South Korea, according to which the East Asian country would participate in the construction of the oil pipeline. 

Earlier, the director of the international affairs department of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Mohsen Qamsari, said that almost 500,000 barrels of crude oil has been delivered to Neka since the resumption of oil swap operations with Caspian Sea littoral states in July. 

On Wednesday, NIOC Managing Director Ahmad Qal'ebani said that Iran intends to boost the volume of its oil swaps to 200,000 barrels per day by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, which winds down on March 20, 2012. 

Qal'ebani stated that oil swapping is high on the agenda of the NIOC, adding that the company is in talks with Central Asian countries to increase the volume of its oil swaps, which currently stands at 25,000 barrels per day. 

Iran is the second largest oil exporter of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).