Iran is expected to invest US$3 billion in projects at its South Pars gas field, Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported the country’s Deputy Oil Minister as saying.
Ahmad Qalehbani said the investment will bring the total budget allocated for the projects to $9 billion in the current Iranian calendar year ending March 20.
He said that as much of the equipment and supplies required for existing projects were already on site, progress on the remaining projects would be speeded up.
The offshore South Pars field’s current production capacity stands at 75 million cubic metres of sweetened gas per year.
The field is divided into 28 exploitation phases with each phase capable of yielding 28 million cubic metres of gas.
Pars Oil and Gas Company’s managing director Ali Vakili said in August that phases 15 and 16 are 52% complete, while phases 17 and 18 are 50% complete.
With the completion of the phases Iran could add 100 million cubic metres of gas to its production capacity.
South Pars field contains about half of the estimated 28 trillion cubic metres of the country’s gas reserves.
