Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan.6 /Trend F.Milad/
Some 25 billion dollars have been invested in Iran's oil industry from the beginning of current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2012) so far, the Iranian oil minister said on Sunday.
The amount doesn't include the released bonds and buyback deals, the FARS News Agency quoted Rostam Qasemi as saying.
Mousa souri, the managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company, announced on December 25, 2012 that Iran has invested over 7 billion dollars in the giant South Pars gas field in the first 9 months of current Iranian calendar year, which began.
The oil ministry has used the money to equip different phases of South Pars, the Mehr News Agency quoted Mousa souri as saying.
By the end of the current year (March 19, 2013) the amount would be raised up to 10 billion dollars, he said.
South pars gas field's development plan has created over 100,000 direct and indirect job opportunities, the official explained.
According to Souri, 5 of the gas field's phases will come on stream by the end of the next Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2014), boosting the total output of South Pars up to 180 million cubic meters per day.
Iran is currently producing 300 mcm per day of gas from South Pars.
Iran has attached the priority on boosting gas production capacity from its joint oilfields with Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
South Pars is part of a wider gas field that is shared 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.
Iran, which sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia, has been trying to enhance its gas production by increasing foreign and domestic investments, especially in its South Pars gas field.
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