Iran Expects to Overtake Qatar in Gas Production from Joint Field

Iran expects to soon overtake Qatar in gas recovery from South Pars natural gas field that the two countries share.

“With the start-up of these phases up to [the calendar year] 96 (starts in March 2017), Iran will be outdistancing Qatar in daily gas recovery [from South Pars],” Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Iran;s oil minister said, Press TV reported Thursday.

Zanganeh said development of 17 phases of South Pars will enhance Iran’s gas production by 400 million cubic meters (mcm) a day.

Iran has already started pumping natural gas from phase 12 of South Pars, which is the biggest phase in terms of volume of activities as well as investment and production levels, Press TV said.

When fully operational, phase 12 will see some 100 mcm per day of sweet gas pumped into Iran’s gas trunklines.

The South Pars gas field, located in the Persian Gulf is shared by Iran and Qatar. Iran calls it South Pars gas field and Qatar has named it North Dome field. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the field holds an estimated 1,800 trillion cubic feet (51 trillion cubic metres) of in-situ natural gas and some 50 billion barrels (7.9 billion cubic metres) of natural gas condensates.