Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 13 /Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/
Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi has raised both the reward and the fine for private contractors working on the South Pars oil and gas field , Moj news agency reported.
According to Qasemi, the reward and the fine for the contractors has been raised by $25 million, and it now equals to $75 million.
Several months ago, NIOC (National Iranian Oil Company) said it will issue a $50 million per month fine on companies working on South Pars if they work slow, adding that poor performing contractors may also have their workload reduced by the oil ministry.
On the other hand, if the companies manage to finish all 8 phases of the 35-month South Pars project, they will be issued a reward of $50 million.
Bounded by contract, the companies must finish the whole project within a 35 month period. Thus far, 27 months have gone by already.
Recently, Qasemi has raised the stakes, adding extra $25 million to both rewards and fines for the companies.
Iran and Qatar share the South Pars gas field. The Iranian portion which is divided into 29 phases, accounts for about 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, or about eight per cent of the total world reserves and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas resources.
Qatar began work on South Pars ten years before Iran and has intensified developing the field while Iran has suffered setbacks from international sanctions and technical and financial obstacles.