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In a ceremony in Bushehr, the capital city of the southern Iranian province of Bushehr, on Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani officially inaugurated Phases 13, 22, 23 and 24 of the giant gas field in the Persian Gulf.
Addressing the ceremony, Managing Director of Pars Oil and Gas Company Mohammad Meshkinfam said that gas extraction from South Pars Field, which stood around 280 mcm/d in 2013 when President Rouhani took office, has risen to some 660 mcm/d with launching of the new phases.
Iran’s Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh, who was also present at the ceremony, said that with the completion of running projects, gas exploitation from South Pars Field will reach 750 mcm/d by the end of first half of the next Iranian calendar year (September 22).
Iran’s overall gas production is expected to go up to 880 mcm/d by the end of next year and reach 950 mcm/d a year later and eventually rise to 1,000 million mcm/d soon, Zangeneh said.
News of the new inaugurations in South Pars Field was widely covered by the Iranian media on Monday.
Both the reformist and principlist newspapers reflected the new achievements in Iran’s oil and gas industry.
“Iran” newspaper, the official daily newspaper of the Iranian government, in a report entitled “Good oil news”, wrote that the inauguration of the new phases increased gas exploitation from the shared field from 580 mcm/d to 660 mcm/d.
The report said that 27 offshore phases as well as 25 onshore phases of the field have become operational so far while just 10 phases of the field had come on stream before President Rouhani came to power in 2013.
In his speech at the inauguration ceremony, President Rouhani talked about the economic and political significance of the new inaugurations and the importance of gasoline production in Persian Gulf Star Refinery in southern Iran as well, the report added.
Arman, a reformist newspaper, wrote: While the US and its allies are trying to exert pressure on Iran to give up developments in different areas, particularly in oil and energy sector, the Iranian people have always proved they will never be intimidated by such threats and restrictions.
Etemad, another reformist newspaper wrote a report themed “Growth despite sanctions”. In its report, Etemad referred to Iran’s taking over Qatar in South Pars Gas Field and said the new phases were inaugurated in the light of making use of the capabilities of domestic companies.
The new inaugurations in the gas field were also put on the spotlight by Iranian principlist newspapers, including Vatan-e Emrooz that highlighted the role of Khatam ol-Anbia Construction and Development Base which is the IRGC's major engineering arm and one of Iran's largest contractors in industrial and development projects.
Vatan-e Emrooz noted that the new inaugurations were not possible without partnership of Khatam ol-Anbia and “because of that [at his speech in the inauguration ceremony] the minister of petroleum yesterday repeatedly talked about cooperation of government and IRGC and thanked Khatam ol-Anbia base in this regard.”
Inauguration of the South Pars new phases are an example of Jihadi movement with reliance on domestic capability, the daily added.
Kayhan, another principlist newspaper, wrote in a report on Monday that the inauguration of Phases 13, 22, 23 and 24 of the gas field and outpacing Qatar in exploitation of gas from this shared field demonstrated the capability of domestic contractors and came as a heavy blow to the brutal sanctions against the Iranian nation.
Oil Nationalization Day is celebrated in Iran on March 20 each year. The public holiday recognizes the day in 1951 when members of the Iranian parliament voted to nationalize the oil industry in the country.
These achievements Iran has made in the energy sector came as good news for the Iranian people on the eve of this public holiday.
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