Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.28
By Fatih Karimov -
Trend:
Iran has settled its $600 million debt to Norwegian oil giant Statoil for implementing the development plan of the South Pars gas field phases 6-8.
Director of the International Affairs Department at National Iranian Oil Company Mohsen Ghamsari said Statoil carried out the design, construction, and installation of offshore facilities at phases 6-8 of the South Pars gas field, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on October 28.
Four years after the mentioned phases of the gas field came on stream, the National Iranian Oil Company settled its debt to Statoil, which had remained unpaid due to sanctions against the Iranian oil industry, he explained.
NIOC repaid the debt through exporting 2-4 consignments of liquefied petroleum gas and gas condensates per month to Statoil, he noted.
Iran is currently producing 300 million cubic meters of gas from South Pars per day.
The South Pars gas field, divided into 28 phases, is located in the Persian Gulf on the common border between Iran and Qatar. It is estimated that the field contains 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of condensate.
In 2012, a spokesman for Statoil Company said that despite sanctions imposed on Iranian oil by the European Union, the country can still repay its debt to Statoil.
Iran, he said, owes the company for the development of the South Pars project and other exploration activities conducted in the country.