Azerbaijan, Baku, Apr.19/ Trend G.Mehdi/
Output at Iran's South Pars gas field will be increased by 50 million cubic meters per day in the current Iranian calendar year, ISNA quoted Pars Oil and Gas Company managing director Mohammadreza Zohairi as saying.
Phases 12, 17, and 18 will come on stream in the current year, he said, adding that phase 12 will start production by September with a projected output of 25 mcm per day.
Each of the phases 17 and 18 will produce 12.5 mcm of gas per day, he noted.
In February, IRNA quoted phases 17 and 18 development project manager Hassan Boyeri as saying that seven new wells have been drilled at Iran's South Pars gas field. Phases 17 and 18 are aiming to boost production by 15 million cubic meters per day. Their progress has reached 76 per cent.
Iran is currently producing 300 mcm/d of gas from South Pars located in the Persian Gulf. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had said the gas field's production capacity would be doubled by September.
Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said in November that 775 mcm/d of gas could be extracted from South Pars after all its phases come on stream.
Iran has attached a priority to boosting gas production capacity from its joint oilfields with Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
The country 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.
South Pars is part of a wider gas field that is shared with Qatar.