TEHRAN (MEHR - Trend )
Iran's government has given the green light for the issuance of bonds worth 1 billion euros to help finance the development of the South Pars gas field, Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari said here on Saturday.
"As much as $2 billion will be also drawn out of the Foreign Exchange (Forex) Fund, the lion's share of which will be allocated to the South Pars development projects," he said, adding that 3 percent of the country's crude oil income has been earmarked for the project, the Mehr News Agency reported.
"The likely rise in oil prices would speed up the implementation of the South Pars projects," he said.
According to Reuters, the National Iranian Oil Company has an estimated annual investment need of $25 to $30 billion.
Iran sits on top of the world's second-largest gas reserves after Russia.
South Pars field is a gas condensate field located in the Persian Gulf. It is the world's largest gas field, shared between Iran and Qatar.
This gas field covers an area of 9700 square kilometers, of which 3700 square kilometers (South Pars) is in Iranian territorial waters and 6000 square kilometers (North Dome) is in Qatari territorial waters.
--------Iran makes plans for $12.3b bonds to fund gas field work in 3 years: official
Iran plans to issue foreign currency and rial-denominated bonds for a total of $12.3 billion over the next three years to help finance the development of its South Pars natural gas field, the managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company said.
Reuters quoted Ali Vakili as saying that, "Total investment needs for the remaining development work of South Pars amounts to $50 billion."
He said priority would be given to South Pars phases 15 to 18, out of its total 24 phases. The operations would be carried out through two state banks, Mellat Bank and Industry and Mine Bank.
$500m for Persian Gulf Star Gas Condensates Refinery: Nozari
Some $500 million will be allocated to the Persian Gulf Star Gas Condensates Refinery to accelerate its construction operations, Nozari said on Sunday.
The Persian Gulf Star Gas Condensates Refinery in the southern region of Assalouyeh is projected for refining 360,000 barrels of gas condensates per day and producing gasoline, jet fuel, and other important products.
The refinery is now 19 percent complete and is supposed to come on stream in 2012.