BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 20. In total, $19 billion worth of investment is needed to develop Iran's share of the South Pars gas field, and to build a number of facilities related to the development, said Reza Dehghan, deputy director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Trend reports.
He made the remark at the meeting with representatives of Iranian insurance companies in Tehran on Sept. 20.
Iran shares the ownership of the South Pars gas field with Qatar. Iran's share of the field stands at about 33 percent. The country has been developing the field since 2002, investing a total of about $90 billion in the development. Iran's share of the field is divided into 24 phases, each of which is developed separately. Iran is developing its share of the field through domestic workforce, while Qatar's part is mostly handled by foreign companies.
Explaining the details of the total investment needed, Dehghan said that $2.4 billion of investment is needed to develop the 11th phase of the field. He further said that after the development of the 11th phase of the South Pars gas field, production started for the first time in August 2023. The 11th phase of the South Pars gas field has been divided into two parts for the purpose of faster development. Part one of the platform was officially launched on August 28, 2023. Reportedly, 10-12 million cubic meters of rich gas is currently produced here.
Along with these, the deputy director said that some $500 million is needed to improve wells in other phases of the South Pars gas field. Also, $1.1 billion is needed to drill 35 wells in order to prevent gas from flowing in other directions.
“At the same time, $15 billion of investment should be attracted for the purpose of building stations (facilities) in order to increase the pressure on production in the South Pars gas field,” he said.
According to Dehghan, in general, $22 billion is planned to be spent on the operations carried out within the framework of projects to increase gas production in the country.
Proven reserves of the South Pars Gas Field are estimated at 51 trillion cubic meters of gas, of which 36 trillion are extractable. Iran's share in the field is 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of gas condensate.
Iran stands second in the world for gas reserves, with about 34 trillion cubic meters of gas. Reportedly, Iran's gas production capacity is more than 1 billion cubic meters. Iran exports only a small portion of the gas produced in the country, about 6 percent.
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