TEHRAN – Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said the phase 11 of South Pars gas field’s development project will go on stream by the first half of the Iranian calendar year of 1400 (September 22, 2021).

The official made the remarks in a signing ceremony on Saturday in which Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) awarded the development of Belal gas field in the Persian Gulf to a local firm called Petropars.

Speaking on the sidelines of the ceremony, Zanganeh said “This contract and other upcoming contracts show that we are working under the sanctions. The sanctions have not stopped us and we are active.” 

The official also mentioned Farzad B gas field, saying that the development of Farzad B gas field will be started in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 19, 2020).

Zanganeh further mentioned the progress in South Pars and West Karoun regions, saying that in both shared fields Iran is not behind its rivals, Iraq and Qatar, and even in South Pars the country is producing more gas than the Qatari rival.

National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed a contract with Total in 2017 for developing the phase 11 of South Pars field with an initial investment of $1 billion, marking the French company the first major Western energy investor in the country after sanctions were lifted in 2016.

The company was pressured to leave Iran after the United States threatened to impose sanctions on companies that do business in the country.

Later on, Iran awarded the project to China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) which was part of the consortium which was first supposed to carry out the project.
Although currently 81 percent of the phase 11 of South Pars gas filed development project is officially handed over to CNPC, the Chinese haven’t still done any work on the project. 

Back in April, Zanganeh had said that NIOC was in talks with a Chinese company for completing the South Pars phase 11 project.

“Representatives of the Chinese company are already in Tehran.” Zanganeh had said.

The offshore South Pars field holds the world’s largest natural gas reserves ever found in one place.

EF/MA