New gas refining units to come on stream in South Pars:Iranian oil minister

TEHRAN,July 27(MNA) – Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said 10 new gas refining units will come on stream in the near future in the South Pars gas field. Zanganeh added that the gas field’s output will be increased by 100 million cubic meters per day once the prioritized phases, namely phases 12, 15, 16, 17, and 18, come on stream this year. He was referring to the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 21, 2014 and ends on March 20, 2015. The country will triple natural gas production at the South Pars gas field to one billion cubic meters per day in the next three years, he said. Iran is currently producing 320 million cubic meters of gas per day at the South Pars gas field, Zanganeh added. The South Pars/North Dome gas field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, with 3,700 square kilometers of it, which is known as the South Pars gas field, in Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, i.e. the North Dome gas field, are in Qatar's territorial waters. The Iranian gas field, which is divided into 29 phases, contains 14 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, about eight percent of the world's reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas (LNG).