OEDC’s managing director, Naji Sadooni, told Iran’s official energy news agency Shana that the pipeline will be used in case the deal with Crescent is cancelled.

“We are holding the tender and within the next month the contractor will be introduced,” Sadooni said.

Iran has previously blamed the delay in the Crescent project on the UAE firm's refusal to pay a high enough price for the gas, but Crescent says a series of technical issues have hampered the deal (MEED 16:4:08).

In April, Iran said it would use the gas for local supplies unless the pricing issue could be resolved.

Under the proposals, 600 million cubic feet a day of gas will be supplied from the Salman field to Crescent, the major shareholder in Dana Gas, which operates a separate company with Dana to import the fuel into the UAE.