Iran Likely to Launch Prioritised Phases of the South Pars by Winter

Iran will most likely launch major parts of prioritised phases of the South Pars gas field by the end of the current Iranian calendar year which started on March 21, reports news agency Shana.

In an interview given to the news agency, Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said phases 12, 15, 16, 17 and 18 of the giant offshore gas field will hopefully come on-stream before winter.

"By the end of the current [Iranian] year at least 100 mcm/d will be added to the production capacity of the field," Shana quotes Zanganeh as saying.

According to the minster, at least 25 mcm a day of natural gas will be recovered from each of the phases 12, 15, 16, 17 and 18.

Zanganeh also underlined the necessity of setting up offshore facilities by Iran in the South Pars gas field, and said that decisions should be made to uplift offshore facilities to compensate for years that Iran has lagged behind Qatar in extracting gas from South Pars field, Shana says.

Iran is working at a great speed to develop its giant South Pars natural gas field, amid hopes of relief from sanctions.

The 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.

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