Iran will invest more than US$16 billion in South Pars gas field to develop its remaining phases in the current Iranian calendar year (to end March 20, 2012), the managing director of Pars Special Economic Energy Zone said on Sunday.
IRNA quoted Seyyed Pirouz Mousavi as saying that, “Daily production of more than 700 million cubic meters in the giant gas field is the goal of the ministry.”
Mousavi noted that the ministry plans to start early production of gas in phases 15, 16, 17 and 18 of South Pars field.
According to the official the gas field’s daily production currently stands at 200-210 million cubic meters.
The Iranian official said earlier in March that more than $200 billion investment is needed for the South Pars projects until the end of Iran’s Fifth Development Plan (2010-2015), according to Iran’s own Press TV reports.
Iran’s Fifth Five-Year Socio-Economic Development Plan (2010-2015) is part of a long-term roadmap for sustainable growth.
The South Pars gas field is located in the Persian Gulf on a border zone between Iran and Qatar. The field’s reserves are estimated at 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas.
The gas field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, of which 3,700 square kilometers (South Pars) is in the Iranian territorial waters and 6,000 square kilometers (North Dome) is in Qatar’s territorial waters.
South Pars is the most significant energy development project in Iran, which is estimated to have 450 Tcf of natural gas reserves, or around 47 percent of Iran’s total natural gas reserves. Discovered in 1990, and located 62 miles offshore in the Persian Gulf, South Pars has a 25 phase development scheme spanning 20 years.
The entire project is managed by Pars Oil & Gas Company, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company. Each phase has a combination of natural gas with condensate and/or natural gas liquids production. Phases 1-10 are online. The majority of South Pars natural gas development will be allocated to the domestic market for consumption and gas re-injection. The remainder will either be exported to South Asia or Europe, used for LNG production, and/or used for gas to liquids (GTL) projects.
