Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.19/ Trend F.Milad/
Iran has started drilling the first development well at South Pars gas field's phases 22-24.
The Sina drilling rig, the same rig that drilled the phases' first exploratory well, is drilling the development well, the IRNA News Agency reported.
The first exploratory well of phases 22-24 of the South Pars gas field, south of Iran, was drilled by the Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) in June, the Pana News Agency reported.
Various studies show that the drilled oil layer has the capacity to produce 20 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.
Roughly 12.5 million cubic meters of natural gas will be produced from the South Pars gas field phases 22-24 once the phases become operational by May 2013, the Shana News Agency quoted the phases 22-24 project manger as saying.
Farhad Izadjou added that $5.144 billion will be invested to develop the three phases, which are aimed to produce 56.6 million cubic meters of sour gas, 75000 barrels of gas condensates, 400 tons of sulfur and 870 tons of LPG.
Iran has attached the priority on boosting gas production capacity from its joint oilfields with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Oil Minster Rostam Qasemi said in June.
Iran sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia and is trying to grow its gas production by increasing foreign and domestic investments, especially in its South Pars gas field.
The field is shared by Iran and Qatar. The Iranian share, which is divided into 29 phases, has about 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, or about eight percent of the total world reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas resources.
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