"My government plans to bring into operation four phases of the South Pars (development project) by the end of the current Iranian year (ends March 21, 2015)," Rouhani said, addressing a meeting with lawmakers of the Western Kohkilouyeh and Boyerahmad province on Monday.
In relevant remarks earlier this month, a senior energy official announced that all development phases of the South Pars gas field "will be accomplished in the next three years".
"The remaining phases of South Pars project will be ready before the beginning of 2017," Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Rokneddin Javadi told reporters on the sidelines of his visit to the 19th International Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition in Tehran to.
Iran’s natural gas output currently stands at 500-550mln cubic meters per day, he said, and added phase 12 of the South Pars, when fully completed, will see domestic gas production rise by 15 percent (80mln cubic meters).
The South Pars gas field, divided into 28 phases, is located in the Persian Gulf on the common border between Iran and Qatar. The field is estimated to hold 14 trillion cubic meters of gas as well as 18 billion barrels of condensates.
The field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which lie in Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, better known as the North Dome, are located in Qatar's territorial waters.
