Iraq will export crude oil to Iran, and Iran will transport petroleum and other refined products to Iraq, which is suffering from shortages in its petrochemicals industry, the minister told a press conference, attended by Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, who is visiting Iran. Mr Zanganeh said the agreement has not yet been signed, but the exchange will begin 10 months after it is signed. "The plan is for Iran to buy 150,000brl/d of light crude from Basra (in southern Iraq)", he said. "In return, Iran will supply petroleum, gasoil and kerosene (to Iraq), which will be supplied by the Abadan refinery (in Iran)." The petroleum will be imported by Iran on Iraq's behalf. "The Iranians will build two oil pipelines: one to transport gasoil and kerosene from Abadan to Basra, and another to transport crude from Basra to the Iranian refinery. A third pipeline will be built between the (Iranian) port of Mahshahr, near Abadan, to transport imported petroleum to Basra for Iraq," the minister continued. "The construction and the financing will be Iranian", the minister said, although he did not give financial details of the deal. Iraqi Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Ouloum, who was accompanying the prime minister on his visit, said later that a memorandum would be signed imminently: "150,000brl/d of crude oil will be transported from Iraq to Iran, and 50million litres of refined products from Iran to Iraq. The project will be operational within a year. For the moment, only Iranian companies are expected to take part in the reconstruction of the Iraqi oil industry," he said. Mr Jaafari's visit, the first to Iran by an Iraqi head of state since the ousting of Saddam Hussein in 2003, was mainly aimed at strengthening economic and security cooperation between the two countries.