Azerbaijan, Baku, July 21/Trend M. Moezzi/
Phases 17 and 18 of Iran's joint South Pars oil and gas field will start early production this year adding 12.5 million cubic meters to the country's daily output (Iran's solar year ends on March).
Work on the project's onshore section has progressed 80 percent and the two phases' joint refinery will be finished by the end of this year, Senior Project Controller Mahmoud Taheri told Shana news agency.
Two platforms for phases 17 and 18 are being built by the Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company (IOEC) and are scheduled to be installed this winter. The Iran Marine Industrial Company (SADRA) is building two more platforms for the project, Taheri said.
Overall progress on the two phases is 67 percent and their refineries will start early production by March.
Phases 17 and 18 will need a total of 44 fields drilled including 16 scheduled to be drilled for the first phase.
Developing of 17 and 18 phases will cost over $4.8 billion. When finished, the two phases will produce 50 million cubic meters of sweet gas daily.
Iran and Qatar share the 9,700 square kilometer South Pars gas and oil field-lay. Qatar, however, is far ahead of Iran in exploiting the field's resources. Iran is working to expedite its work on the field by pushing some South Pars phases into early production.