Oman is on schedule to begin gas deliveries to neighbouring United Arab Emirates (UAE) by the beginning of next year, the deputy chief executive of Oman Oil Company (OOC) Ahmed al-Wahaibi said.

'The pipeline will be completed in December this year and we expect Dolphin to be in a position to take gas by the end of January at the latest,' Wahibi told AFP on the sidelines of the Oil and Gas Pipelines in the Middle East conference held in the Omani capital.
In February, OOC signed an agreement to deliver 135 million cubic feet per day of natural gas to UAE-based Dolphin Energy Limited, via a 45-kilometer (28-mile) spur pipeline from the Omani enclave of Mahda to the Dolphin system in Al Ain in the UAE.
The gas will then be pumped through a new 182-kilometer (113-mile) line to the Union Water Electricity Company's (UWEC) forthcoming 656 megawatt power plant and associated desalination project in the east coast emirate of Fujairah.
The construction of the spur pipeline will provide a permanent gas link between the two Gulf Cooperation Council countries' gas systems.
OOC signed a gas offtake agreement with Oman's oil ministry earlier this year but al-Wahaibi would not divulge the price per unit paid.
'We will utilise the gas network of Oman Gas Company (OGC) which is partly owned by OOC. OGC will also operate and maintain the pipeline,' he said.
Oman will provide gas to the UAE for 42 months.
Thereafter, Qatari gas will be used for UWEC's Fujairah power plant.
Dolphin signed a 25-year gas supply contract with the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA) and UWEC. Under the contract, Dolphin will ship the Qatari gas from Al Taweelah in Abu Dhabi to UWEC using the existing pipeline network to Al Ain, (see above).
A Dolphin official said the contracts would allow the company to raise financing for the estimated 10 billion dollars it needs to build a regional gas pipeline network, which will export gas via a submerged pipeline from Qatar to Abu Dhabi, and from there to Dubai, Oman and eventually Pakistan.
The project is expected to come online in 2006.
Qatar has the world's third largest gas reserves after Russia and Iran.
The state-owned United Arab Emirates Offset Group (UOG) has a 51 percent share in Dolphin, with France's TotalFinaElf and Occidental Petroleum of the United States each holding a 24.5 percent stake.