Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 23 / Trend F.Milad/
Five trillion rials (some USD460 million) in bonds will be offered as of Saturday at the Tejarat Bank branches of Iran nationwide to finance the South Pars gas field projects, National Iranian Oil Company's managing director, Ahmad Qalebani, said.
Some $5 billion in bonds will be issued in the current Iranian calendar year (to end March 20, 2012) to speed up the implementation of South Pars gas field projects, Qalebani told the Shana news agency.
Iran will also issue $15 billion in sukuk (Islamic Sharia-based) bonds in the current year to be invested in the domestic oil industry, oil minister Rostam Qasemi said earlier this month.
Iran needs to invest $48 billion to spur development of its oil and natural-gas industries, said Deputy Oil Minister Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr in October.
The South Pars gas field is shared by Iran and Qatar. The Iranian share, which is divided into 29 phases, has about 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, or about eight percent of the total world reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas resources.
(1USD=1,088 IR rial)