Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi officially opened the final stage of the South Pars gas field, one of the biggest natural gas condensate fields in the world and the largest in Iran.
Iran inaugurates mega-gas field: There are 24 platforms on the side of the Islamic Republic, which has been developing the gas field in the Gulf since the 1990s, which it shares with energy superpower Qatar.
During a live-broadcast ceremony on state television in the southern port city of Asalouyeh, Oil Minister Javad Owji announced that they will extract approximately 50 million cubic meters of gas daily from Phase 11 of the project after completing the wells.
While this was happening, Raisi lamented that foreign businesses, like as the French energy giant Total, “had not fulfilled their obligations to complete the 11th phase of South Pars,” leaving it to Iranian professionals to complete the work.
In 2017, under a $4.8 billion agreement, Total, in partnership with China’s National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and an Iranian company, received the task of developing phase 11 of South Pars.
After then-US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the historic 2015 nuclear accord and reimposed sanctions on Iran, Total withdrew from the project a year later. Tehran said in 2019 that China had likewise given up on the endeavour.
After Russia, Iran has the second-largest gas reserves in the world, and it has the fourth-largest oil reserves.