With continued US sanctions on Iran following the United States' unilateral withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in May 2018, Tehran has relied on sanctions-busting measures - which have proven effective - to continue exporting increasing quantities of crude oil.

In a report published by the American Oil Price website, writer Simon Watkins said that these measures include selling Iranian oil as Iraqi oil on the border, and using international intermediaries to hide Iranian oil transfers under the guise of other clients, in addition to the transfer of Iranian oil. Ship to ship in the territorial waters of Malaysia, Indonesia, and China, and to integrate it into Iraqi oil export pipelines.

But last week, the Iranian Oil Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC) confirmed that the first phase of the exploitation of the Ghora Jask oil pipeline project will begin by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, that is, on March 20, 2021.

According to the director of the Ghorh Jask pipeline project, Ali Jafarzadeh, the process of testing the pumping stations and the final oil depot will begin within the next two months and will end in early February, after which the first phase of the pipeline operations, which is capable of transporting 350 thousand barrels per day, will be carried out. Light Crude, Heavy Crude Oil and Extra Heavy Crude Oil, via a 1,100 km pipeline with a diameter of 46 inches, extending from the Ghorah Oil Depot in northwest Bushehr Governorate to Jabal Mubarak in the western Jask province along the Gulf of Oman.

The chain of transporting oil through the Ghor Jask pipeline will initially focus on the huge West Karon oil fields (Reuters)

increase production

Initially, the oil transportation chain through the Ghor Jask pipeline will focus on the huge group of oil fields in the west of the Karon region. A barrel of heavy crude oil and 254,000 barrels of light crude oil, and the second phase will involve transporting more than a million barrels of crude oil to export terminals.

These quantities are completely reasonable, as the group of oil fields in the west of the Karun oil region alone includes the Azadgan field, the Yaran field and the Yadavaran field, in addition to some smaller oil fields, whose combined reserves amount to at least 67 million barrels.

The writer pointed out that the possibility of greatly increasing production in these fields is great, especially as they do not form structures that are difficult to exploit geologically, and in fact, the average cost of crude oil production in the West Karon fields group as a whole is the lowest in the world.

Once it reaches JASC, the oil will be stored in one of the twenty tanks, each with a capacity of 500 thousand barrels of oil, in the first phase, (a total of 10 million barrels), to be loaded later to the very large crude oil tankers from the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. Then to the Indian Ocean, the second phase, according to a high-ranking official in the oil and gas industry who works closely with the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum, includes expanding the total storage capacity to reach 30 million barrels.

There are 3 anchorage areas and other infrastructure under construction that will enhance the import and export of crude oil and other products. In a recent comment, Hossein Azimi, director of the Pars Oil and Gas Company that oversees developments in the Iranian giant natural gas field, said. (South Pars Field), The establishment of berthing areas with a loading capacity of 7 thousand square meters per hour in Asaloyeh, southern Iran, will help develop the gas condensate loading capacity in the field and will also allow the handling of liquid cargo, such as petroleum products, in tankers.

The Ghorh Jask pipeline will allow Iran to ship at least one million barrels per day to anywhere in the world (Reuters)

A million barrels per day shipped

The writer quoted the Iranian official as saying that some docking areas will be established in the south, in the Gulf of Oman, in the coming months, because they are very useful in areas where there is no facility dedicated to loading or unloading liquid cargo.

The official added that these areas will act like the mooring areas of Iraq, as they will be several kilometers away from the land facilities, connected to them by a series of undersea pipelines, and capable of handling a giant oil tanker.

In other words, the Ghora Jask pipeline would allow Iran to ship at least 1 million barrels per day of its crude oil to anywhere in the world (particularly to China, in the near term), while at the same time allowing it to disrupt all other oil supplies that It passes through the Strait of Hormuz (about 35% of the world total).

The Iranian official said that "even before the re-imposition of US sanctions," Kharg "was not ideal for use by tankers.

The Iranian official added that "the extreme narrowing of the Strait of Hormuz means that they must travel very slowly, which leads to increased transit costs and delays in the flow of revenues. In return, Iran wants to be able to take advantage of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz for political reasons without hurting the flow of its export revenues." Oil. "

"For this reason, it is likely that the works of the Ghor Jask pipeline project will be completed before the official deadline of 20 March 2021," he concluded.

The ability to add another dimension to Iran's current evidence of sanctions-busting is in line with the views of senior Iranian politicians who support these activities. At the Doha Forum held in December 2018, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, stated that if there is An art that Iran mastered and could teach others for a fee, it would be the art of evading sanctions.