Iran: officially launches two phases of the South Pars gas field
Iran launches two phases of South Pars
Iran today officially launched two phases of its huge South Pars gas field with an estimated daily output of 50 million cubic metres of natural gas, official Iranian media reported.
Phases 9 and 10 of South Pars cost about $4 billion to develop and is estimated to generate income of around $1.3 billion per year, the IRNA news agency said.
South Korea's LG Engineering Construction Corporation and a pair of Iranian energy companies in 2002 won a deal to develop phases 9 and 10, out of the field's 24 phases.
Iran's state Press TV said Iranian companies had carried out 60% of the project. It said most of the gas would be used domestically.
South Pars, in the Gulf, is Iran's biggest single gas deposit. The country sits on the world's second-largest gas reserves after Russia but has been slow to develop exports due to US sanctions and other issues.
Many Western energy companies have been scaling back investments in Iran because of US and UN sanctions imposed over Tehran's disputed nuclear work. Asian companies have snapped up some projects and are looking at others.
Industry experts say it will be many years before Iran becomes a major gas exporter despite its vast resources.
Last Wednesday, a senior Iranian oil official said France's Total had wasted time in work on phase 11 of the South Pars gas field phase and that a new partner would enter the project with a "leading share", reported Reuters.