Firms submit gas utilisation study to Iran
Dubai (Reuters) - A consortium of nine foreign energy firms have presented
Iran's National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) with a proposal for a 25-year gas
utilisation plan for the country, an Iranian industry official said yesterday.
Nasser Tofighi, managing director of NIOC subsidiary Oil Industry Engineering
and Construction (OIEC), which is supervising the plan, told Reuters the
nine-month study would cost $2 million.
"The study involves the production and export of gas in Iran.
It is looking at integrated gas," he said. Iran's South Pars gas project
will be the main supplier for Iran's gas plans, Tofighi said.
The consortium comprises of BHP Petroleum, TotalFinaElf, Agip, Petronas,
BP Amoco, Royal Dutch/Shell, Gaz de Franceand BG International. The South
Pars project is the first major step taken by Iran to develop its huge
untapped gas reserves, the world's largest after Russia.
Iran has said developing the new phases of South Pars by international
bidders would generate $3 billion worth of gas a year.
Iran already has a $2 billion deal with a consortium of France's Total,
Russia's Gazprom and Petronas to develop the second and third phases of
the Gulf-based project, with reserves estimated at some 12.3 trillion cubic
metres of gas.
The country, Opec's second largest oil producer, is urging foreign companies
to invest in its vast natural gas industry, which has huge potential. Iran
sits on more than 24 trillion cubic metres of proven natural gas reserves,
16 per cent of the global total, while only producing 3.1 per cent of the
world's output.
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