The governments of Oman and Iran have signed a preliminary deal to build a pipeline for the export of Iranian natural gas to the Gulf sultanate.

A statement on the Islamic Republic’s official IRNA news agency said that a memorandum of understanding has been signed between the Iranian oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh and his Omani counterpart on Monday.

It added that construction on the pipeline would begin “in a short period of time”, without specifying further details.

Oman had reportedly earlier requested export of more than 2bn cubic metres of Iranian natural gas per day.

Oman’s ruler Sultan Qaboos bin Said is currently on a three-day visit to Iran, where he met Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Sultan Qaboos is the first foreign leader to visit the country since new president Hassan Rowhani took office earlier in August.

Source : arabianbusiness.com