Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 6
By Rahim Zamanov - Trend:
The daily gas production of Iranian Central Oil Fields Company (ICOFC) on Dec. 5 surpassed 301 million cubic meters, the managing director of company said on Dec. 6.
"ICOFC is currently able to produce more than its nominal capacity," the ISNA News Agency quoted Mehdi Fakour as saying.
The produced amount on Dec. 5 is around 2 million cubic meters more than the company's nominal capacity.
Fakour said on Nov. 10 that the daily gas production of ICOFC will surpass 351 million cubic meters in two years.
"The company's production capacity currently stands at 300 million cubic meters per day for cold months and 240 million cubic meters for warm months," the IRNA News Agency quoted Mehdi Fakour as saying.
Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said in October that Iran will become self-sufficient from gas imports after the Iranian 1394 solar year which will start on March 20, 2015.
According to Shana News Agency, Zanganeh said on Oct. 30 that gas shares 70 per cent of Iran's energy consumption basket.
Iran has 33.6 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration report, Iran's natural dried gas output was about 153 billion cubic meters (bcm) which is as much as the domestic consumption figures.
According to this report released in March 2013, overall, Iran's natural gas consumption is expected to grow around seven per cent annually for the next decade.
Natural gas accounted for about 59 per cent of Iran's total domestic energy consumption in 2010 with oil consumption at 39 per cent of total energy use, according to EIA.
Iran eyes boosting gas production by commencing 12 new phases of the joint South Pars gas field, but Zanganeh said there are only two, Phases 15 and16, until March 2015. Iran needs a $25 billion investment to commence remaining phases of South Pars (phases 11 to 24) to boost gas output by 300 mcbpd in 2.5 years.