Oil ministry to start development of giant gas field

The Iranian oil ministry is readying to sign a deal with a domestic firm to develop its giant Forouz B gas field, sources revealed on Monday.Managing-Director of Mapna Group Abbas Aliabadi told the oil ministry's website Shana that the development contract of the Forouz B gas field will be signed with the National Iranian Offshore Oil Company (NIOOC) in coming days. Aliabadi said pre-MDP studies of the field that its gas will be used for generating electricity and exporting to the neighboring countries, have been completed by Tehran LNG company, a subsidiary of the group. A part of the gas supplies to be produced in the field will feed power plants in Iran and the rest will be exported to the neighboring countries. Aliabadi said that his group was studying master development plan of the field, and added that several tests are yet to be done in the field, including three dimensional seismic surveys, mapping the field and drilling appraisal wells. He noted that all the related documents of the Forouz B gas field had been prepared, adding development plan of the field includes two packages and the contract of the first package would be signed with NIOOC this week. "Holding auction on three dimensional seismic surveys and drilling descriptive wells plus doing financial and technical assessment for buying jack-up, early studies on renting and purchasing a yard in Kish Island in a bid to support maritime operations are among the other steps taken in this regard", the official said. Aliabadi said that development of the field needs six billion dollars investment, of which two third would be provided by the Mapna Group and the remaining part through the oil ministry's loans. He said by building power plants in the first and second phases of the gas field six thousand megawatts of electricity would be produced that could be exported to the neighboring countries, including Iraq, Turkey and Pakistan, Oman and UAE. "In addition to this project, Mapna Group is prepared to carry out similar projects in other gas fields of the country, especially shared fields, in a bid to produce electricity," the official said.