TEHRAN- The ground is laid for the implementation of phase 11 of developing South Pars gas field (in the Persian Gulf), Mohammad Meshkinfam, the managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC), which is in charge of developing the gas field, told Tasnim.

“All required studies have been conducted and we are just waiting for the Oil Ministry’s approach and also approval to sign the related deals with the contractors”, Meshkinfam added.

The POGC’s managing director further put the in-situ gas reserve of the phase 11 at about 21 trillion cubic feet and said 2 billion cubic feet (56 million cubic meters) of gas will be extracted from the field per day.

In early November last year, Iran signed a $4.8 billion agreement on development of phase 11 with France and China.

The deal which was in the form of a heads of agreement (HOA) document based on Iran’s new oil contracts (known as IPC) was signed between National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and a consortium including France’s Total, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Petropars, a subsidiary of NIOC.

Total, Petropars and CNPC would have 50.1, 19.9 and 30 percent of stakes in the project, respectively.

Total’s chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said last week that the company plans to conclude the Iran South Pars gas deal before summer.

Pouyanne said the signing of U.S. sanctions waivers, among other hurdles, cleared the path for the deal to be signed.

Total said earlier in February that a final decision on the deal hinged on the new U.S. administration renewing the waivers.

Focusing on enhancing rate of oil recovery by implementing modern technologies in this phase will make it the South Pars’s technology transfer center. POGC is constructing a modern platform designed to increase gas pressure in this phase.

MA/MG