Iran, Kazakhstan Discuss Caspian Oil Pipeline to Persian Gulf
The announcement was made by Iranian ambassador to Astana Morteza Safari during talks with Kazakh Prime Minister Imangali Tasmagambetov on Monday, the agency said.
According to the Kazakh government, the French company Totalfinaelf is planning to carry out feasibility studies on the proposed oil pipeline from Kazakhstan to Iran through Turkmenistan and farther on to the Persian Gulf, it added.
The Kazakh leadership has repeatedly expressed its interest in the construction of the pipeline. In April, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said his country "considers Iran as a promising export route for its oil." Iran has been competing to have Caspian energy pipelines pass through its soil but has faced fierce U.S. opposition. The United States is pushing for a route that would bypass the Islamic Republic.
Iran, while obviously the most expedient transportation route for Caspian oil and gas, has already been left out in negotiations to develop the sea's resources. Turkey and some U.S. oil companies have come up with another Caspian oil pipeline project from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.
Turkmenistan, however, has exported several billion cubic meters of gas to Iran in recent years, to the dismay of Washington.
A deputy head of the Uzbek National Oil and Gas Company, Asrar Abedov, said in December that Iran and Uzbekistan were negotiating on a long-term project for the delivery of Uzbek natural gas to the Islamic Republic.
"Iran is considered a major market for Uzbek natural gas," he said, giving the assurance that "gas deliveries to Iran will continue on a regular base once a deal is struck." Iran, a major gas producer itself, uses gas it receives from Caspian Sea states for domestic use and sells the equivalent amount of its own gas to European or other countries in the Persian Gulf in swap deals, IRNA reported.