TEHRAN- Phases 17 and 18 of developing Iran’s South Pars gas field (in the Persian Gulf) will be inaugurated by the end of the first month of current Iranian calendar year Farvardin (April 20), ISNA reported on Tuesday quoting Mohammad-Reza Chalipa, the operator of these phases.

As Chalipa told ISNA, phases 17 and 18 are currently injecting 46 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas per day to the national network and the figure will reach 56 mcm per day once completely inaugurated in the mentioned time.

According to Hassan Boyeri, the managing director of Industrial Projects Management of Iran Company (IPMI), some 15.5 billion cubic meters of gas has been injected from these phases to the national network since their first train of gas sweetening units was put into operation during the tenth month of Iranian calendar year of 1393 (December 22, 2014-January 20, 2015), Shana reported in early March.

The official put the investment for development of phases 17 and 18 of South Pars at $8.1 billion.

The huge offshore field, shared with Qatar, covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which, called South Pars, are in Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, called North Dome, are situated in Qatar’s territorial waters.

The field is estimated to contain a significant amount of natural gas, accounting for about eight percent of the world’s reserves, and approximately 18 billion barrels of condensate.

MA