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TEHRAN, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Ministry of Petroleum said Monday that energy giants, France's Total and the Netherlands' Shell, have joined a fresh round of talks between Iran and Oman for the construction of a sub-sea gas pipeline, state-owned Press TV reported.
The ministry also said that Iran and Oman are approaching Korea Gas Corporation for its possible participation in the project.
According to the outlines of the project, Iran would export an annual 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas to neighboring Oman when the pipeline comes on stream.
Under a contract between the two countries in March 2014, Iran's gas would be pumped from the southern Iranian province of Hormuzgan to Oman's Sohar port, where it would join Oman's domestic natural gas network.
The accord is a 25-year deal with a value of about 60 billion U.S. dollars.
It is reported that Oman might have some of the imported gas liquefied for export to its neighbors, in addition to the country's own domestic use.
Despite huge gas reserves in the south, Iran has been slow to enhance its gas production due to Western sanctions in the past years.
