Iran dismisses Polish PGNiG from gas project

TEHRAN,Dec.20(MNA)-- The National Iranian Oil Company has set aside the Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) from developing Lavan gas field to its repeated delays. The NIOC will soon sign a contract, worth $1.9 billion, with a domestic consortium to replace the PGNiG. NIOC and PGNiG has been in talks for four years to sign a deal, worth $5-7 billion, to develop the Lavan gas field, but the Polish company has repeatedly put off the final agreement. The Lavan gas field, which was discovered in 2003, has in-place gas reserves of around 12 trillion cubic feet. The development plan is aimed to produce 30 million cubic feet of natural gas per day from the field. Iran sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia. With around 900 billion cubic meters increase in the past two years, Iran in-situ natural gas reserves has surged to 34 trillion cubic meters, an official with Iran’s Oil Ministry stated. Mohsen Khojaste-Mehr told that extensive operations are underway to explore new gas deposits across the country which will probably increase the country’s proven gas reserves. Iran’s fifth five-year development plan (2010-2015) has envisaged boosting the country’s gas production by 250 million cubic meters per day to reach 1.4 billion cubic meters per day.