TEHRAN – Iranian Oil Minister Javad Oji said on Saturday that the Islamic Republic has outpaced Qatar in gas extraction from joint fields by 100 million cubic meters (mcm), IRNA reported.

 “We set an unprecedented record in gas production, and Iran has been ranked first among the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) members in terms of gas production increase; the average growth of the countries was equal to 2.5 percent, and Iran ranked first with five percent gas production growth,” Oji said in a press conference.

“In the South Pars joint field, we extract 75 to 100 million cubic meters of gas more than the Qatari side,” he added.

The official noted that the oil ministry has signed deals worth $20 billion with major holdings to boost the recovery factor of the giant field’s wells.

South Pars gas field, which Iran shares with Qatar in the Persian Gulf, 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. The field is divided into 24 standard phases.

The huge offshore field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which 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.

Last week Oji said that over the first three years of the 13th administration in office, 150 oil industry projects, worth $34 billion, have become active.

Speaking during the signing ceremony of developing two oil fields on June 16, he commemorated the memory of late President Ebrahim Raisi, noting that “developing least-developed regions of the country and creating jobs for the people living in those areas was the top priority of the late president.”

the majority of 153 projects that came to fruition were projects that had been ignored before the 13th administration took office, including South Pars gas field phase 11 which its development contract was exchanged for 20 years between the related sides, but when the 13th administration took office it decided to start its development which is now complete and operational, the Minister of Petroleum said.

Oji continued: The country managed to acquire good revenues by implementing these kinds of projects in the oil, gas, refining, and petrochemical sectors. 

According to him, while the oil industry’s growth stood at 10 percent two years ago it reached 20 percent last year; the highest rate of growth among all sectors of the economy.

The oil industry has 300 projects on the agenda of which 80 projects are new ones, he said adding total value of these projects reaches 130 billion dollars, some of them are now operational.

Referring to cooperation with Russia, he said a satisfactory basis had been laid for expanding relations with Russia “and we will hear good news in this regard in the future.”

The 13th administration so far has signed five billion dollars of oil contracts with Russian companies and 250 thousand barrels of oil per day the country produces, comes from the contracts have been already signed with Russian companies, Oji said.

The official has also said that the United States can no longer prevent the export and production of Iran's oil.

“With the measures that have been taken in President Raisi's government in the field of the oil industry, I should announce that any government that comes to power in the US cannot prevent the export and production of Iranian oil,” Oji said while speaking at a parliament open session on Wednesday morning.

In his remarks, Oji highlighted the efforts of the 13th Iranian administration in improving the situation of the production and export of oil.

EF/