Majlis Ready to Finance South Pars
Spokesman of Iran’s parliament (Majlis) Ali Larijani has said that the Majlis is ready to provide the necessary budget for the development of the giant offshore South Pars gas field.
“If necessary, more extensive measures will be taken in the Majlis for budgeting for South Pars phases,” Larijani said during a visit to the massive field in southern Iran.
He said that Iran has to focus on the development of oil and gas fields, adding that no foot-dragging would be acceptable.
Gas Output to Rise 100mcm/d
Iran’s Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said the country’s gas production is expected to rise by 100 mcm/d this year to March 2015.
“This [calendar] year, with the operation of phases 12 and 15-18 of [South Pars] gas field, over 100 mcm/d will be added to the country’s gas production capacity,” Zangeneh said at the site of the offshore field.
He said more than 10 billion dollars has been invested in ten operating phases of the massive field, adding that more than 30 billion dollars has been spent on the development of 17 other phases.
Zangeneh said 20 billion dollars more is also to be invested in this field in the coming three years, including 10 billion dollars in the current year.
“Qatar [which shares the field with Iran] is currently recovering more than 600 mcm/d of gas from South Pars, while Iran is producing only 320 mcm/d on average,” said the minister.
Zangeneh said South Pars, Iran’s main source of gas production, is vital to Iran’s economy.
The minister expressed hope that all phases of South Pars would have been developed by 2017.
The entire South Pars covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran’s territorial waters (South Pars) in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, referred to as the North Dome, are in Qatar’s territorial waters.
The Iranian oil and gas field contains 14 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, about eight percent of the world’s reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of LNG resources.
$3.8b per Phase
Each phase of the giant South Pars gas field in southern Iran could earn the country 3.8 billion dollars in revenues, a deputy petroleum minister said.
Rokneddin Javadi said during a visit to the offshore field that Iran direct revenues from South Pars development topped 235 billion dollars up to March 20.
He said the field has produced 324 mcm/d of gas, which is planned to reach 820 mcm/d in the coming three years.
Javadi said the field’s production reached 92 bcm in the last calendar year to March, adding that the output is expected to exceed 100 bcm this calendar year.
“Based on contacts signed for [the development of] South Pars, 43 billion dollars has to be invested in this field, 34 billion dollars of which has already been paid,” he said.
India to Clear Some Oil Payments to Iran
India plans to clear some pending oil payments to Iran under a new framework which involves the US Federal Reserve and the central bank of the United Arab Emirates.
Under the proposed arrangement, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would transfer Iran’s money in dollars to the UAE central bank’s account in the United States, Reuters reported.
Under the November 2013 interim nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, Tehran has access to its 4.2 billion dollars in frozen funds globally.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury has reportedly informed India of Iran’s intention to receive 1.65 billion dollars of the pending payment in three equal installments.
“It is indeed a complex mechanism but it has been devised to bring in transparency in the money transfer to Iran,” Reuters quoted an informed source, whose name was not mentioned, as saying.
The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has so far received five portions of the frozen oil revenue agreed to be released under the nuclear deal.
Iran and the six world powers – the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany – sealed the interim deal in Geneva on November 24, 2013, to pave the way for the full resolution of the decade-old dispute with Iran over the country’s nuclear energy program. The deal came into force on January 20.
Iran Tops World Gas Reserves
In its latest annual report, British Petroleum (BP) announced that Iran’s gas reserves have grown by 200 bcm.
The report announced in view of this growth, Iran’s natural gas reserves rank first in the world.
Iran has maintained this rank for the second consecutive year.
The report puts Iran’s gas reserves at 33.8 tcm by the end of 2013.
The world’s proven gas reserves amounted to 185.7 tcm in 2013, which will last for another 55 years, it said.
BP released its first annual report in 1951 and put the world’s proven gas reserves at 185.3 tcm in its 2012 report.
Russia’s gas reserves increased by 300 bcm in 2013, to reach 31.3 tcm from 31 tcm in 2012. Its reserves used to rank first in the world for a long time, before Iran overtook the country in this regard.
Also, in 2013, the US reserves increased by 0.6 tcm compared with the figure for 2012 and reached 9.3 tcm.
Turkmenistan’s gas reserves in 2013 remained the same as the figure for 2012, which was 17.5 tcm.
Gas reserves of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan have not changed compared with the figures of last year.
The report put the world’s proven oil reserves at 1687.9 billion barrels in 2013, up by 6 million compared with the figure for 2012.
Iran intends to boost gas production by increasing foreign and domestic investments, especially in the South Pars gas field in Bushehr province. It can play a significant role in providing gas to Europe and the region.
At present, Iran produces over 700 million cubic meters of sour gas daily, which is used by petrochemical units, power plants, domestic industries, household sectors and for injecting gas into oil wells.
By launching new South Pars phases, Iran’s gas production is expected to grow by 200 million cubic meters per day.