Eni Reportedly Proposes $4bn Investment in Iran's South Pars Project
Italy’s Eni has reportedly proposed investing $4bn in phase 11 of Iran’s South Pars gas field. It said it would take 36 months to start production, Fars news agency reported on January 26, citing unnamed government officials. Eni declined to comment at time of press.
Some 4-5 months later, the phase will reach its nominal production capacity of 56mn m³/d of gas and 80,000 b/d of gas condensates.
Eni has already developed phases 4 and 5 of the South Pars gas field as well as two phases of Darkhovin oilfield. It has shown interest in developing Iran’s North Pars gas field and also the third phase of Darkhovin oilfield, the report added.
It had been planned that Iranian contractors would develop South Pars Phase 11. The National Iranian Oil Company had signed preliminary agreements with Petro Iran, Petro Pars, and Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company. But the head of Pars Oil & Gas Company Akbar Shabanpour told another state news agency Shana January 26 that no domestic company had secured the contract.
France's Total was dismissed from phase 11 in 2009. Then the project was awarded to China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). In July 2012, CNPC also pulled out of the project.
According to official statistics, phases 1-10, and phases 10, 12, 15, and 16 are fully operational and phases 17 and 18 have just started production. The energy ministry has announced that phases 13, 14, 19, 20-21, and 22-24 will be started in the next Iranian fiscal year, which begins on March 21.
Iran produces 420mn m³/d of gas from South Pars. With phases 14, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 under way, the total is to exceed 570mn m³/d. Iran plans to produce more than 700mn m³/d of gas from all 24 phases of South Pars by 2018 but it needs $20bn to develop the remaining phases, energy minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said January 11. The South Pars/North Field contains 30 trillion m³ of gas and 18bn barrels of condensate. It covers 9,700 km², of which 3,700 km² are in Iran’s territory in the Persian Gulf, divided into 24 development phases. Qatar has the rest.