Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.3
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran started extracting 10 million cubic meters of gas per day from Phase 12 of the South Pars gas field as cold weather swept the country, the Mehr News Agency reported on January 3.
The country's natural gas refining capacity has reached 600mcm per day.
Phase 12 is the largest segment of the South Pars gas field, jointly held by Iran and Qatar. The field on the Iranian side holds 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and has been divided into 29 phases, Phases 1 to 8 have been developed completely, Phases 9 and 10 has been operated, but not to full capacity and Phases 11 to 29 are under construction.
Phase 12 of the South Pars gas field is projected to yield 81 million cubic meters of sour gas, 120,000 barrels of gas condensates and 750 tons of sulphur per day.
Gas supplies to Iranian industry has been limited, while domestic gas consumption has reached a critical level due to severe cold season, Tabnak news portal reported on Thursday.
The country's domestic and commercial units` total gas consumption surpassed 482 million cubic meters per day on Dec. 30 which was a new record during the current solar year (started on March 21).
Supplying gas to power plants has been limited and the country's main industries including steel, cement and petrochemical industries have faced a gas shortage.
Earlier Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Hamidreza Araqi urged households to economise on the consumption of natural gas.
"If consumption is not limited, gas supply to power plants, industrial units and households will be reduced," Araqi said, the Mehr News Agency reported on Dec. 13.
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Nov. 29 that the coming winter will be the hardest in the country's history in terms of a gas shortage.
However, Zanganeh said that Iranians will face no difficulty in the season, the IRNA News Agency reported.
Edited by S.M.
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