Managing director of the South Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) says Iranian contractors have broken a previous record set by the European companies in the development of the South Pars gas field.
Mousa Souri said on Friday that development of phase 12 of the huge gas field by Iranian companies has been recorded at respectively 4, 4.8, and 5 percent during the past three months which exceeds previous records set by the French Total and Italian Eni companies.
The official said the average monthly development progress of Iranian companies has been 2 percent more than the record set by their foreign counterparts and added that phase 12 would start early production as of next year.
Souri said the development of the onshore and offshore parts of South Pars' Phase 12, which is the biggest phase of the field, has reached 60 percent.
Managing director of SPOGC further stated that the field had only progressed about 20.6 percent up to last January, when foreign companies were working on it, but the figure has increased from 20 percent to 60 percent in the past 11 months after Iranian companies took over.
Souri added that 12 wells have so far been drilled in the Phase 12 platform in the Persian Gulf and two offshore rigs continue drilling operations there.
When in full swing, Phase 12 of South Pars gas field is expected to produce 78 million cubic meters of gas for injection into the sixth trunk line and for the production of LNG. It will also produce a daily total of 110,000 barrels of gas condensate and 750 tons of sulfur.
Iran, which sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia, has been trying to increase its gas production by increasing foreign and domestic investments, especially in its South Pars gas field.
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. North Dome, are in Qatar's territorial waters.
The Iranian gas field has 14 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, about eight percent of the world's reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of LNG resources.