Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug.7/ Trend R.Zamanov
Iran has ignited the first torch of South Pars gas field's phase 12, the Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Company Ahmad Qalebani said on Wednesday.
"The first section of phase 12 will be operational by Septemer. The first section is projected to pump 12.5 million cubic meters of gas to the country's national gas network," the IRIB News Agency quoted Qalebani as saying.
"The second section of the phase will also come on stream one month later. The second section has the same capacity as first sections," he added.
"Some 300 trillion rials (some $9.67 billion based on the price of USD at the free market) has been invested in phase 12," he stated.
Iranian Oil minister Rostam Qasemi said on August 2 that South Pars Gas Field's development plan will be completed in two years.
"Once all the phases come on stream, Iran's share of gas extraction will equal to that of Qatar," he said. "Currently the development plans of 17 phases are underway".
"Phases 17 and 18 will come on stream by the end of the current calendar year (March 20)," Qasemi said, adding that the phase 12 will start producing 50 million cubic meters of gas by winter.
South Pars is part of a wider gas field that Iran shares with Qatar. The larger field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran 's territorial waters (South Pars) in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, referred to as the North Dome, are in Qatar 's territorial waters.
The Iranian gas field contains 14 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, about eight percent of the world's reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of LNG resources.