TEHRAN – Head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has said his company is planning to increase the country’s natural gas output by 240 million cubic meters (mcm) which requires $11 billion of investment, the portal of the Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) reported.

“We will invest about $11 billion in offshore fields to add about 240 million cubic meters to the country's gas production capacity,” Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr said on Thursday, on the sidelines of a visit to Phase 14 of the South Pars gas field in southern Iran.

According to Khojasteh-Mehr, NIOC’s programs include the development of North Pars gas field as the country’s new gas hub.

Mentioning his company’s plans for increasing the country’s gas production capacity to compensate for the shortage of gas for domestic consumption and exports, the official said: "We have put development plans on the agenda to supply the gas needed by the country, including the development of North Pars gas field which is equivalent to four phases of South Pars."

He further pointed to the development of the first phase of the Kish gas field as another priority of the NIOC, saying: "Accelerating the completion of phase 11 of South Pars and using the capacities of the country’s onshore fields will also be part of plans to increase gas production."

Holding nearly 18 percent of the global gas reserves, Iran is one of the most hydrocarbon-rich areas in the world, and the country’s giant South Pars gas field (which Iran shares with Qatar in the Persian Gulf) is by far the world's largest natural gas field.

South Pars covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran’s territorial waters and the remaining 6,000 square kilometers, called North Dome, are situated in the Arab country’s territorial waters.

EF/MA