Gas production at giant offshore natural gas field South Pars will rise to 175 million cubic meters per day within the next two years, said the managing director of the Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC).
"By the end of Iranian year 1391 (in the next two years) South Pars gas production capacity will increase to 175 million cubic meters per day," Ali Vakili told Mehr News Agency.
Vakili did not say how much of an increase this represents. Production at the field rose by nearly 30 percent during the 2009-10 year to around 59 billion cubic meters of processed gas for the full year, or around 162 million cubic meters per day.
"For developing South Pars we reached the conclusion that we should not wait for foreign companies because at the moment domestic companies can develop South Pars," said the official.
Vakili said on April 26 that Royal Dutch Shell and Repsol had one week to decide on their involvement in the natural gas field.
Iran said both Anglo-Dutch Shell and Spain's Repsol have procrastinated on finalizing their involvement in the field, the world's largest reservoir of gas.
The offshore South Pars field contains about half of the estimated 28 trillion cubic meters of the country's gas reserves.
South Pars is on the Iranian side of the world's largest known gas reservoir not associated with oil production. Qatar holds the southern section of the field, where it is known as the North Field. Qatar has developed its side of the field to become the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Iran has the second biggest gas reserves in the world after Russia, but sanctions over its nuclear energy program and other factors have slowed its development as a major exporter. It does not have access to the technology it needs to build LNG facilities.
© Iran Daily 2010
