Oil Minister: Iran Prepared to Supply Natural Gas to Europe
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh expressed the country's readiness for providing the European states with natural gas, either through pipeline or LNG shipments.
“As a country capable of supplying gas in large volumes, Iran has been always willing to be present in Europe’s market, either through pipeline or in LNG form,” Zanganeh told Shana.
He noted that Iran started gas talks with European countries some nine years ago, adding, “As far as I know, the talks were halted and no chance was provided for the resumption of them in recent years.”
Zanganeh also pointed to Europe's long-term interest in diversifying its gas supplies, emphasizing that the Islamic Republic would be able to meet both domestic and export demands once the new phases of the massive offshore South Pars gas field, south of Iran, become operational.
He further noted that more than 34 billion dollars have been poured into those phases of the South Pars with the highets priority, adding that phases 12, 15, 16, 17 and 18 are expected to start gas production in the coming years.
The South Pars gas field, whose development has been divided into 24 phases, is located in the Persian Gulf straddling the maritime border between Iran and Qatar. It is estimated that the Iranian section of the field contains 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of condensates in place.
South Pars is part of a wider gas field that is shared with Qatar. The larger field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran's territorial waters (South Pars) in the Persian Gulf.