Gov't urged to raise output from joint oil reserves

Tehran, Nov 17, IRNA – Majlis representatives on Monday obliged the government to maintain, up to the next 10 years, the share of using crude oil, gas condensates and gas from joint reserves at least equal to the share of countries sharing the reserves. In the Majlis open session, the parliamentarians specified government’s position with regard to utilization of joint reserves as well as production capacity of petrochemical substances. According to the Majlis approval, the government is obliged to increase within the 10-year time, output of petrochemical products at least to 100 million tons annually. Meanwhile, the government was also obliged to increase capacity of refining crude oil and gas condensates inside the country to at least 5 million barrels per day. The annexed paragraph was approved with 161 votes in favor, 4 against and 10 abstentions from a total of 207 representatives present in the session. South Pars gas field is one of the largest independent gas reservoirs in the world lying on the territorial border between Iran and the State of Qatar in the Persian Gulf. It is one of the country's main energy resources. This gas field covers an area of 9700 square kilometers, of which 3700 square kilometers belongs to Iran. Production and processing of gas in 10 phases of South Pars is carried on in five independent refineries which are close to each other and two km from the Persian Gulf coastal line in Pars Special Economic, Energy Zone in Assalouyeh Port in Bushehr Province, 270 km east of Bushehr. With the operation of Phases 12, 15, 16, 17 and 18 in the current year, refineries related to these phase will be put in operation. Phases 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 14, 13 and 24 will become operational in coming years after completion of the above-mentioned phases./end