TEHRAN - The Islamic Republic has outpaced Qatar in gas extraction from South Pars field which is shared between the two countries in the Persian Gulf, an official with the Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) said.

Alireza Rikhtehgar Dezfouli put the daily gas production from the field at about 700 million cubic meters, noting that 70 percent of the natural gas, 40 percent of the feed for gasoline production and 64 percent of the fuel required for electricity production in the country is supplied from the South Pars gas field.

According to the official most of the equipment and parts needed for overhauling and maintaining the platforms of the field are manufactured by domestic companies.

“Since the sanctions imposition, the development of knowledge base companies in the oil industry has been prioritized, and in the first stage, and for the major repairs of the platforms of the South Pars gas field, which has been one of the heaviest overhauls in this field in the last two decades, we have used the capacities of domestic knowledge-based companies,” Rikhtehgar Dezfouli said.

South Pars gas 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. 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.

EF/MA