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Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari, top energy industry officials, managers and directors of South Pars Oil and Gas Company, as well as local officials attended the ceremony.
After the ceremony, Nozari said at a press conference that the development project for Phase 12 is designed to produce 3000 mmscf/d gas from the reserves, adding that the entire project was designed and will be implemented by a consortium of Iranian firms.
On whether Iran would purchase foreign technology and products to develop the field, he said there is little tendency towards purchasing foreign products.
“The industry aims to reduce dependence on foreign expertise and products by carrying out its oil and gas development projects but welcomes foreign investment--although some of the energy giants are under pressure from Washington not to invest in Iran,“ he added.
Private investment in the energy sector was another question. In this respect Nozari said, “Isfahan Refinery has already sold five percent of its shares to the private sector and the aim is to cede more shares of the energy industry in the future.“
He called on foreign firms to invest in Phase 12 adding, “European and Asian firms are willing to invest in upstream and downstream sectors. Talks are still underway and I am pretty much sure that they would soon be finalized.“
On whether illegal US-led sanctions could have an impact on gasoline imports and supply, he maintained that there is no such a thing as fuel shortage as many countries would like to sell fuel to Iran. “In case there are any restrictions, the industry can and will increase domestic fuel production.“
According to Nozari, development projects will soon begin for seven other phases. “Phases 15 and 17 have already been handed over to the contractors and phases 19 and 21 will soon follow suit, probably by early September.
“The ministry is also in talks with Turkey to develop Phase 22 and lay a transnational pipeline to export natural gas to Europe via Turkey. Negotiations have been fairly good thus far and the hope is that they could soon be finalized.“
He said that Iran will raise oil production by the end of Fourth Five-Year Development Plan (2010), adding that Iran’s oil export will be raised to 3.5 million barrels a day from the current 2.4 million barrels a day.
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