Iran opens $6 billion gas operations

Iran brings online two more operations in its biggest gas field, marking the opening of the first such project all carried out by domestic entities in the face of Western sanctions.

President Hassan Rouhani attended inauguration of phases 15 and 16 of the South Pars field in Asaluyeh on Monday along with other senior officials, including his Petroleum Minister Bijan Zangeneh.

The operations with $6 billion of investment cap nine years of development and bring the number of phases producing gas in South Pars to 12, with a further 15 phases under construction.

“Phases 15 and 16 of South Pars which were implemented and commissioned under sanctions will produce 56.6 million cubic meters of gas a day to meet domestic need for fuel especially by household, commercial and industrial consumers,” Zangeneh said.

The phases will also yield 75,000 barrels per day of gas condensate plus 400 tonnes of sulfur. They will generate $20 million a day of foreign exchange earnings for the country, the Ministry of Petroleum’s Shana news agency said.

The project was carried out by a consortium of Iranian companies. Khatam ol-Anbia, the construction arm of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corp, won the tender for the two phases in 2005.