Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 9 / Trend F.Mehdi/
Drilling operations will be started soon at phases 20 and 21 of Iran's South Pars gas field, IRNA reported.
The first drilling rigs will be commissioned by next month at the two aforementioned phases of the gas field.
Development of phases 20 and 21 has so far progressed by 44 per cent. The two phases are projected to produce 50 million cubic meters of sweetened gas and 75,000 barrels of gas condensates per day, 1.05 million tons of liquefied gas, one million tons of ethane and 400 tons of sulphur per year.
The South Pars gas field is shared by Iran and Qatar. The Iranian share which is divided into 29 phases has 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.
On Sunday, Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said development plans worth $400 billion will be implemented to reform the domestic oil industry, the Mehr News Agency reported.
Once the development plans are completed, the country will earn $500 billion income annually from exporting oil, gas, and petrochemicals, he added.
According to the plan, the country's oil output should be increased to 5.5 million barrels per day from 4mbpd by March 2016.
He also said that output at the South Pars gas field will reach 750 million cubic meters by March 2016.