Tehran, Iran, June 14
By A. Shirazi - Trend:
The director of National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) and the Iranian deputy oil minister Hamid Reza Araqi said the country has for the first time managed to attract $2 billion foreign investment through build-operate-transfer (BOT) contracts.
“Our gas exports to Baghdad and Basra as well as the completion of the 6th national gas trunkline (IGAT-6) are among the projects financed through BOT contracts,” Araqi said, according to SHANA news agency.
These projects will help bring back the government’s capital to the country, he added. “Through employing BOT contracts at National Iranian Gas Company, $2 billion capital has been invested in the country for the first time ever”.
Araqi said the government will continue to use pipes to export gas to neighboring countries.
“But for far away countries, we plan to achieve the technology for Mini-LNG plants,” he further added.
The Sixth Iran Gas Trunkline (IGAT-6)–a major component of the national gas grid–will go on stream by the end of the current fiscal year that ends in March 2019.
Upon completion, IGAT-6 pipeline project will raise gas supply by 50-60 million cubic meters daily. Some 100 kilometers of the 56-inch diameter pipeline are still under construction.
Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said that Iran is on pace to boost gas production to 1 billion cubic meters a day by March 2019, roughly the same time that all South Pars phases are planned to be up and running.
The gas field, whose development has been divided into 28 phases, is located in the Persian Gulf straddling the maritime border between Iran and Qatar.
It covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, of which 3,700 square kilometers belongs to Iran.
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.
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