Azerbaijan, Baku, July.31/ Trend R.Zamanov
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad officially inaugurates the gas sweetening facility of South Pars Gas field's phases 15 and 16.
The facility can currently pump 12.5 million cubic meters of gas daily to the country's national gas network, the IRIB News Agency reprted.
Once the project comes on stream completely the figure would each 50 million cubic meters per day.
So far 5 billion dollars have been invested in phases 15 and 16.
The former managing director of Pars Oil & Gas Company warned on July 22 that hasty inauguration of giant South Pars Gas field's phases may lead into undesirable accidents.
"Any loss caused by the delays could be compensated but an accident could never be compensated," Mousa Souri said. "Any accident can lead in loss of lives as well as disappointment and loss of self-confidence."
"The phases 15 and 16 were supposed to come on stream in 60 months, but their development projects has now entered 72th month," Souri stated.
The Mehr News Agency reported on July 12 that the development projects of Iran's South Pars gas field's different phases are either halted or very slow due to financial problems. Currently the progress rate of the most active phase of the field is around 1 to 1.5 percent per month.
During the past three years some 46 billion dollars have been invested in South Pars.
But according to the National Iranian Oil Company's officials, some other 16 to 17 billion dollars should still be invested in the field's development projects in the current year (which started March 21).
In order to reach the goal, each month 1 to 1.5 billion dollars should be invested in the project. But as the Mehr News Agency reports, the field's contractors have failed to absorb such amount of money.
Many experts have criticized the oil ministry for not giving priority to development projects of the country's joint oil and gas fields.
Gholam-Hossein Khje-Ali, the former managing director of Sepanir Oil & Gas Energy Company which is the biggest contactor of South Pars, told the Mehr News Agency that financial problems are the main reason behind the gas field's slow progress.
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