Azerbaijan, Baku, March 17/ Trend, A.Yusifzade /
Over $200 billion should be invested in the Asalouyeh (South Pars) oil and gas development projects in the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone (PSEEZ) over the fifth five year development plan (2011- 2016), IRNA reported quoting PSEEZ Managing Director Pirouz Mousavi as saying.
According to Mousavi, Iran has allocated $35 billion to the South Pars gas field development projects over the past ten years (1999-2009).
Iran has allocated over $10.7 billion to the South Pars gas field since the beginning of the current Iranian year (started March 21, 2010).
Iran's Pars and Oil Gas Company (POGC) managing director Mousa Souri said that despite the economic sanctions imposed on Iran, development at South Pars has not been stopped. He added that the POGC has around $47 billion worth of projects in hand.
Iran will earn $110 billion annually upon the completion of the remaining phases of the South Pars gas field, Oil Minister Seyed Massoud Mirkazemi said earlier this month.
Mirkazemi said that $60 billion would be allocated to developing the upstream sector of the South Pars projects during the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2011-2016), which is part of a long-term roadmap for sustainable growth.
Gas production at Iran's giant offshore natural gas field, South Pars, rose by nearly 30 percent between March 2009 and March 2010. That amounts to around 59 billion cubic meters of processed gas for a year, or around 162 million cubic meters per day.
According to POGC Official Ali Vakili, production at Iran's giant South Pars gas field will rise to 175 million cubic meters per day in the next two years.
PSEEZ was established in 1998 for the utilization of South Pars oil and gas resources.
Asalouyeh was chosen as the site of the PSEEZ facilities due to it being the closest land point to the largest natural gas field in the world, the South Pars / North Dome Gas-Condensate field.
The process of developing gas production projects in the South Pars Special Economic Energy Zone has been divided into 28 phases.
The gas field is located in the Persian Gulf in the border zone between Iran and Qatar. Its reserves are estimated at 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of gas condensates.
In July, the European Union imposed a new round of sanctions on Iran, which mainly sought to target investment and technical assistance to Iran's refining, liquefaction, and liquefied natural gas sectors.
Iran has in return stated that it will launch multibillion-dollar projects in South Pars with the help of its domestic expertise, experience, and financial resources.
The United Nations Security Council has so far imposed four rounds of sanctions against Iran. The sanctions are meant to punish Iran for what the Security Council has deemed questionable nuclear activities.
However, the International Atomic Energy Agency has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.
Iran ranks third in the world in oil reserves and second in gas reserves.