A senior Iranian energy official says the country plans to surpass Qatar in gas production from the massive offshore South Pars gas field, which is shared by the two countries.
Mr Mousa Souri MD of Pars Oil and Gas Company said that Iran’s gas recovery from South Pars would equal Qatar’s after five new phases of the giant field come on stream. The development of phases 12, 15, 16, 17 and 18 of South Pars would add nearly 200 million cubic meters per day of sour gas to the shared field’s output on the Iranian side.
Mr Souri said that seven new offshore rigs are to start operation in South Pars before the end of the current Persian calendar year (ends March 20th 2013).
Mr Rostam Qasemi oil minister of Iran recently announced that 775 mmillion cubic per day of gas could be recovered from South Pars after underway projects come on stream.
Iran, which sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia has been trying to enhance its gas production by increasing foreign and domestic investments, especially in its South Pars gas field.
The South Pars gas field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers ie the North Dome are in Qatar's territorial waters.
The Iranian gas field contains 14 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, about eight percent of the world's reserves and more than 18 billion barrels of LNG resources.