Iran has launched new phases of the giant South Pars offshore gas field, which the country shares with Qatar, located in the Persian Gulf.
According to the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s website, the president on Sunday ordered start of operations on gas platforms of Phases 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 of the South Pars gas field. The ceremony was broadcast live on the national television.
At the opening ceremony, Rouhani said that doubling oil production and maintaining Iran’s share of the global market is a national honor.
Reuters reported on Sunday that new projects would produce 150 million cubic meters of gas per day.
“Overtaking neighbors in a shared field and increasing production by roughly 2.5 times more in South Pars is the realization of the motto of ‘We Can’,” the president said.
Referring to sanctions, which were up until recently crippling the country’s economic power, Rouhani said: “Today, we succeeded in returning back to our position and power we had in oil industry because a country that is present in the oil and gas market is powerful.”
To remind, in July 2015, Iran and global powers reached a historic deal where Iran agreed it would scale down its nuclear program, in return for the crippling economic sanctions being eased and eventually lifted against the oil and gas rich Middle Eastern nation.
The South Pars field is one of the country’s main energy resources. It covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 of which belong to Iran. Iran’s portion is estimated to have some 14 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves and some 18 billion barrels of gas condensates. This is roughly 7.5 percent of the world gas reserves and around half of Iran’s gas reserves.
Offshore Energy Today Staff