Iran's oil minister announced that two phases of the South Pars gas field will come online by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (on March 20, 2013).

Phases 15 and 16 of South Pars oil and gas field will be operational by the end of current Iranian year, Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi said on Wednesday.

He told reporters that executive works for phases 17 and 18 of South Pars gas field are well on right track and they will come on stream in the next Iranian year on schedule.

Iran is currently producing 300 mcmpd of gas from South Pars.

In November, an Iranian deputy oil minister said a sum of 80 billion dollars will be invested in the development and completion of South Pars gas field phases.

The South Pars gas field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, i.e. the North Dome, are in Qatar's territorial waters.

The South Pars gas field holds 8 percent of total gas reserves of the world and half of the country's proven gas reserves as well as is the host of the most important industrial complexes of the country and the most important part of oil industry's value chain.

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News ID 183853