Iran is planning to nearly double its natural gas production by 2018 even if the western sanctions against the country stay in place, a senior energy official announced on Sunday.
“Over the next four years, our plan is to increase production to 330 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year,” Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Hamid Reza Araqi said today.
He noted that NIGC is working on four new phases of the giant South Pars gas field that will add an extra 100 mcm of gas per day to the country's output.
Last month, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh announced that Iran plans to boost production in the South Pars gas field to overcome the gas shortage in the country.
"We hope to add another 100 million cm/d to the country's national grid before the end of the year," Zanganeh told reporters.
The Iranian oil minister also said that the South Pars gas field's output will increase to 540mln cm/d by the end of the next Iranian year (March 2016).
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.