Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 6 / Trend F. Milad/
Iran and Saudi Arabia have signed a deal to develop Farzad A gas field, which is shared by the two countries in the Persian Gulf, Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said, Pana news agency reported.
Qasemi added that the two sides will sign another contract next week to develop Farzad B and Arash fields.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony in Assalouyeh, south of Iran, he added that the oil ministry has made comprehensive plans to accelerate the development of joint oil and gas fields in the Persian Gulf.
Iran is currently extracting some 240,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil from oilfields shared with its neighboring countries and plans to boost the output to 950,000 bpd by 2015 (end of the fifth five-year development plan).
The NIOC managing director Ahmad Qalebani said that the country's daily oil and gas outputs should amount to five million barrels and 1.47 billion cubic meters by 2015.
Qalebani announced in November that 20 contracts will be signed by the end of the current (calendar) year to develop joint oilfields.
Oil minister Rostam Qasemi has ordered all the contractors of the South Pars gas field development projects to work round the clock in three shifts to complete development of all phases, especially phases 12, 15, 16, 17 and 18.
Iran has attached the priority on boosting gas production capacity from its joint oilfields with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Qasemi said, the IRNA news agency reported.
Iran sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia and is trying to grow its gas production by increasing foreign and domestic investments, especially in its South Pars gas field.
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.
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