Analysis: Oil and Gas Pipeline Watch

Iran delegation in Pakistan for pipeline talks

Tehran has sent a nine-member delegation led by National Iranian Gas Export Co. Managing Director Hossein Nawab to Islamabad for talks on the struggling "peace pipeline" project.

Iranian Press TV reports the two sides will discuss technical issues for the two days of meetings.

The pipeline, which includes India, has hit numerous snags over the price of gas and transit fees, as well as U.S. concerns over dealings between allies and Iran.

The pipeline's estimated cost is $7.4 billion. It would run 1,700 miles from Iran, through Pakistan, to India, funneling 3.2 billion cubic feet of Iranian natural gas to Pakistan and 2.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas to India each day.

Iran makes play for Caspian oil

Iran's acting oil minister is touting a planned pipeline for Caspian Sea oil to be directed to the Gulf of Oman.

Gholam-Hossein Nozari said the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Co. will make a final pitch next week on the Neka-Jask pipeline, Iranian Press TV reports.

He also is playing up the importance of increasing the Bandar Abbas-Isfahan pipeline capacity. He said it would increase safety and decrease costs to move more oil and oil products via pipeline instead of trucks.

“The pipeline will free more than 400 trucks that are now used for transfer of oil and its products and they can be used for other purposes,” he said, mehrnews.com reports.

Technip wins $33 million Norway pipeline deal

The Paris-based hydrocarbons construction firm was awarded a $32.7 million deal by Norway's Statoil for fabrication and installation of pipelines on Norway's offshore Gjoa field.

Technip will install 16 miles of oil and natural gas production lines and gas lift pipelines, according to a Technip statement.

The company's Oslo office will head the project for the field, which is estimated to hold 82 million barrels of oil and gas condensate and 40 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

Statoil has a 20 percent stake in the field and is the prime developer. It is to come online by 2010 and then Gaz de France, which holds a 30 percent stake, will take over as operator. Petoro AS has a 30 percent stake, Norsk Shell has 12 percent and RWE Dea Norge AS 8 percent.

Canada-Minnesota pipeline construction starts

Construction on a pipeline feeding Canadian oil to Minnesota began this week, though land-rights issues remain.

The 300 mile, $300 million project to lay 24-inch wide, buried lines will pump between 60,000 and 165,000 barrels per day of western Canadian oil to the Flint Hills Resources' Pine Bend Refinery in Rosemount, Minn.

The Minnesota Pipe Line Co. owns the project, which is managed by Minnesota Ltd. and Pennsylvania-based Henkels & McCoy, Finance and Commerce reports.

While the plan is to bring the project online by fall 2008, a remaining obstacle is to secure the rights to land on the chosen path.

"The company has signed easement agreements with about 85 percent of the landowners along the route," said Patty Dunn, a project spokeswoman.

Not all landowners have signed easement agreements, and an eminent-domain battle may take place.

Much of the land the pipeline will cross is rural farming property, and the construction schedule is intended to minimize agricultural disruption, officials said.