Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 2 / Trend F.Milad/
Iran will start the second phase of by offering five trillion rials (some $460 million) in bonds to finance the South Pars gas field projects due to the low public take -up in the first phase.
The rial-based bonds offer began on November 26, but to date only 14 per cent have been sold, the Shana news agency reported.
Five billion dollars 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.
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 last month.
Iran needs to invest $48 billion to spur on development of its oil and natural-gas industries, said deputy oil minister Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr in October 2011.
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 metres of gas, or about eight per cent of the total world reserves and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas resources.