Iraqi Minister for Petroleum Abdel Kareem Luaibi has been authorized to sign a framework agreement for construction of a gas pipeline from Iran to Syria.
Petroleum ministers of Iraq, Iran and Syria signed a cooperation deal to build the pipeline on July 25, 2011. The project is worth about $10 billion.
Iran will extract gas for Syria at fields shared with Qatar in the Gulf. The pipeline may also be extended to Lebanon and the Mediterranean Region to eventually reach Europe. According to the current project, the pipeline will be 225km long and completed in June 2013.
