Oman and Iran have changed the route of the planned gas pipeline between the two countries to avoid waters controlled by the UAE, according to the sultanate’s Oil and Gas Minister Hamad al-Rumhy.

The undersea pipeline will be laid across the Gulf of Oman, providing Muscat with additional gas for consumers and for exports via its liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities at Sur.

In an interview with news agency Reuters, Al-Rumhy said the pipeline project was at the advanced planning stage, with the two countries deciding on a deeper option to avoid crossing UAE territory.

“Instead of the shallower option at about 300 metres (985 feet) deep, the pipeline is to plunge close to 1,000 metres below the sea’s surface, and it will be slightly shorter,” he said in the interview.

Oman expects to invite companies to bid for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tender by the end of 2016 for the pipeline, which will be financed 50:50 by the two companies. Al-Rumhy added that Oman has begun talking to Japanese, South Korea and Chinese groups to raise finance.

The minister said in March that local gas exporting group Oman LNG has a spare export capacity of about 1.5 million tonnes a year (t/y) of liquefied natural gas.