The cumulative output of natural gas and its byproducts from the South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf has reached 2 trillion cubic meters since 2002, the operations manager of Pars Oil and Gas Company said.
“Iran has generated almost $360 billion in revenues over the last 20 years by selling the gas field’s products, including gas condensates, natural gas and its derivatives,” IRNA also quoted Alireza Ebadi as saying.
The number of offshore wells and decks in the field stands at 336 and 39 respectively, which are linked to 13 onshore processing facilities via 3200 kilometers of subsea pipelines, he added.
Iran’s daily withdrawal from SP was 282 million cubic meters per day in 2013, which has now reached 700 mcm/d.
“The giant hydrocarbon field accounted for 10% of Iran’s gas production in 2002, which has now risen to 70%,” he said.
The POGC official said an estimated $50 billion are needed to develop and maintain gas fields across Iran over the next 20 years.
“Of the total investment, about $30 billion would be for projects in the giant South Pars Gas Field,” he added.
South Pars, the world's largest proven offshore natural gas reservoir in the Persian Gulf, contains at least 12 trillion cubic meters of gas, of which 2 tcm have been extracted by Iran in the past 20 years.
Ebadi said that of the total reserves, close to 9 tcm are extractable.
“So far, $81 billion have been invested to develop SP since 2002 when the field’s daily output was 32 million cubic meters. The field then accounted for less than 10% of Iran’s gas requirements,” he added.
Giving a breakdown, the official noted that around $9 billion were spent on the field during 2002-06 to boost production by 113 mcm/d after four years and output reached 145 mcm/d in 2006.
“Between 2006 and 2013, the National Iranian Oil Company invested $45 billion in the gas field and daily output approached 287 mcm,” he said.
Close to $24 billion have been spent to develop the field since 2013 and production is currently around 700 mcm/d, accounting for 70% of the domestic need for the eco-friendly fuel.
“To reach 1.5 bcm/d, NIOC needs at least $30 billion over the next two decades,” he said.