Iran has again warned CNPC – China’s state-backed upstream exploration and production company – that if investment in phase 11 of the giant South Pars offshore gas field was not ramped up, the National Iranian Oil Company would take custody of the field.
“Ultimatums will certainly be given to the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) if the delays in developing the phase 11 of South Pars continues,” Ahmad Qalebani, Head of National Iranian Oil Co.(NIOC) was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency.
Rostum Qasemi, recently appointed Oil Minister by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from the Revolutionary Guards, said last week that the Guard’s engineering wing that he used to run, Khatam al-Anbia, should take over the running of the country’s hydrocarbons resources and no foreign contractors were needed.
“If the current trend of the development of South Pars phase 11 continues, it is also possible that the whole contract be ceded to powerful domestic contractors,” Qalebani said, according to Mehr.
According to a Reuters report, the Guards, Khatam al-Anbia and Qasemi himself are all under sanctions imposed by countries, including the United States and the European Union, that accuse them of involvement in helping Iran develop nuclear technology transferable to weapons, which Tehran denies.
Iran has the second largest natural gas reserves in the world after Russia, but sanctions over its disputed nuclear programme and other factors have slowed its development as a major exporter.
The offshore South Pars field, the world’s largest reservoir of gas, contains about half of the estimated 28 trillion cubic metres of the country’s gas reserves.
Iran said last year that production at South Pars rose by nearly 30% during 2009-10 and that the field is expected to generate state income of up to $130 billion per year.
