Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has said Qatari officials have called for establishing a joint technical committee to coordinate on the volume of gas production from the South Pars gas field located on the two countries’ maritime border.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the 22nd Iran international Exhibition of Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemicals in Tehran on Sunday, Zanganeh highlighted efforts made by the current Iranian administration to boost production in gas fields shared with neighbouring countries.
About 13 years ago, Iran’s production in some shared fields had come close to those of some neighbouring countries, the minister said, adding that they had accepted to hold a joint ‘technical committee” meeting to coordinate the level of output from joint fields.
But after Iran fell behind them in terms of production in the following years, they refused to answer Iran’s letters to hold such a meeting, Zanganeh noted.
However, he added, as the Islamic Republic’s production neared Qatar’s recently, the Gulf country has called on Iran to hold a joint technical committee meeting to coordinate the output.
Last month, the South Pars Phases 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 were inaugurated by Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani.
At the time of inauguration, Zanganeh said three other phases of the gas field are planned to become operational by the end of the current Iranian year (March 2018).
Zanganeh also said that after the coming into service of the remaining phases, the country’s daily gas production would rise to 800mn cubic metres, surpassing that of neighbouring Qatar.
The South Pars gas field, whose development has been divided into 24 phases, is shared by Iran and Qatar – the larger portion of the field being owned by the latter, which it calls North Dome.
It is estimated that the Iranian section of the field contains 14tn cubic meters of gas and 18bn barrels of condensates in place.
