Iran Begins Testing Gas Pipeline to Iraq

Iran has commenced pre-startup tests on a pipeline built to transport natural gas to Iraq, reported Press TV.

“After the end of cleaning and calibration pigging, 97 kilometers (Iran’s section) of the pipeline will become operational,” Alireza Gharibi, managing director of Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company, said on Friday.

The 97 km section will be linked to Iran’s gas trunklines (IGATs) to deliver natural gas from Iran to Iraq, Press TV added. The delivery is expected to begin by summer of next year.

Iran has agreed to export 25 million cubic meters (mcm) a day of gas to Iraq, but the gas delivery will start at seven mcm per day.

The 270-kilometer pipeline stretches from the village of Charmaleh, located in Iran’s western province of Kermanshah, into the town of Naft Shahr on the border with Iraq.

The pipeline, which is estimated to earn Iran $3.7 billion a year in revenues, will be fed by the massive offshore South Pars gas field in southern Iran.