Tehran, July 04: Iran has unveiled plans to invest around $75 billion in its two major gas fields by 2015 to exploit their huge undeveloped reserves.
Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Seyfollah Jashnsaz said that the country would finance a $40 billion investment in the South Pars gas field in a five-year plan to produce some 28 billion cubic meters of gas annually from the field.
Iran and Qatar share the largest gas field in the world in the Persian Gulf, where the Iranian part is divided into 24 phases.
Jashnsaz also noted that a $25-billion investment is planned for the development of North Pars field for oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) exploitation.
“Given that it is one of the most complicated natural gas fields, we plan to invest $25 billion on this project,” he explained.
Jashnsaz, however, did not say how Tehran would finance the investments.
In May, Iran announced plans to issue $12.3 billion worth of bonds over the next three years to help finance South Pars.
Iran sits on the world’s second-biggest gas reserves after Russia.
—–Agencies