Iran is planning to build a new crude export terminal at Jask on the Gulf of Oman coast, giving the country a second hub for Gulf oil shipments, according to local media reports.

The terminal will require a new 1,200-kilometre pipeline to transport crude from Iran’s main producing fields to Jask, presidential aide Akbar Torkan told Iran’s Press TV.

The terminal would allow Iran to export crude bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping bottleneck for oil and gas exports from the Gulf.

Torkan said Iran’s Petroleum Ministry had also ordered a 1,690km gas pipeline to be built to connect Jash to the country’s gas fields. This is planned to be connected to a proposed undersea export pipeline to Oman.

On 12 March, Oman and Iran signed a contract for Tehran to export 10 billion cubic metres a year (cm/y) of gas to Oman through the proposed pipeline. The gas will come from Iran’s under-development South Pars offshore gas field.