Iran Plans to Increase Production from Southern Gas Fields

Iran plans to increase its natural gas production from fields located in the Persian Gulf, according to an official at Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum.

Esmaeel Amiri, who leads the development projects department at the Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC), said on Sunday that the company will invest billions of dollars to develop four gas fields in the Persian Gulf in the upcoming years.

Amiri said that the fields planned to be developed are Kish Gas Field, Farzad B, Balal Gas Field and SP Phase(s) 11 and SP Phase(s) 14 of the South Pars, the largest gas field in the world that straddles the maritime border between Iran and Qatar. He noted that the development projects will increase Iran’s gas output by up to 56 Mcm per day.

Iran has a nominal gas production capacity of around 1,000 Mcm per day of which more than 700 Mcm comes from South Pars. Iran has developed almost all 24 phases of South Pars.

Phase 11 has some of the largest and most complicated reservoirs in South Pars. Iran awarded a major contract to French energy giant Total in 2016 for construction of pressure booster platforms in the field. However, Total left Iran a year later under pressure from the United States.

The NIOC and Gazprom signed a historic investment deal just hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Tehran. Reports said a key plank of the deal will be a US$15-billion project to construct pressure booster platforms in the South Pars. - Iran Daily