TEHRAN - Managing Director of Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC), which is in charge of developing South Pars gas field, says all the field’s platforms are currently operational and producing 630 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas every day, Shana reported.

Mentioning the recent surge in the country’s natural gas consumption due to the cold weather, Mohammad Meshkinfam called on households and commercial users to manage their consumption.

He pointed to the installation of new platforms in the field (which Iran shares with Qatar in the Persian Gulf) and said: “We are taking necessary measures for the new platforms to go operational soon.”

“The 24B platform is expected to be operational within the next two weeks,” he added.

The POGC head also mentioned the D platform as the latest phase 14 platform, saying that the platform is currently sailed out to be installed on its offshore location and POGC is waiting for the weather conditions to get better to install the platform.

In late November 2019, POGC had announced that three remaining platforms of South Pars gas field were planned to be installed at their designated offshore places by the end of current Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2020).

Meshkinfam further emphasized that about 70 percent of the country's gas consumption is supplied from the South Pars field, adding that "Our partners at Pars Oil and Gas Company are working day and night to avoid interruptions in this process."

South Pars gas field, which Iran shares with Qatar in the Persian Gulf, covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which, called South Pars, are in Iran’s territorial waters. 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.

EF/MA