BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:
Despite the spread of the coronavirus in Iran, oil production, including oil and gas has continued in the current Iranian year (began March 20, 2020) said Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said, Trend reports citing Shana news agency.
According to Zanganeh, repair work has begun on several phases of the South Pars gas field and operating in phases 13, 14, 21, 22, 23, and 24 continue on the basis of health protocols.
Zanganeh added that the operations of some projects on upstream industry and downstream industry temporarily suspended. This reduced fuel consumption in the petrochemical industry by 40 percent compared to last Iranian year (from March 21, 2019 to March 20, 2020).
The minister said that most enterprises producing bitumen and other oil products have ceased operations.
"With the decline in global demand for oil, the prices of crude oil and petroleum products have fallen sharply. Therefore, necessary steps have been taken in Iran to store oil and products. At present, Iran has large reserves of gasoline,” he said.
Iran is one of the countries affected by the rapidly-spreading coronavirus. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 110,700 people have been infected 6,733 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 88,300 have reportedly recovered from the disease.
The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.
The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.
Iran has 125 oil fields and 59 gas fields. The country's total hydrocarbon reserves are estimated at 836 billion barrels. With available technology and equipment, Iran can extract 239 billion barrels. Thus, 29 percent of the country hydrocarbon reserves are recoverable, while 71 percent remain underground.
The South Pars gas field is a joint gas field of Iran and Qatar. The proven reserves of the South Pars Gas Field are estimated at 51 trillion cubic meters of gas, of which 36 trillion are extractable. At present, Iran's daily gas production from the South Pars gas field is more than 700 million cubic meters. Iran has so far spent $33 billion on projects of the South Pars gas field.