The next two development phases at Iran's giant South Pars field will come on line in June, state-owned POGC said.
Phases 15 and 16 will add a combined 1.75bn ft³/d (18bn m³/yr) to the country's output. Iran produced about 21bn ft³/d of gas in the Iranian year that ended on 20 March. The 495 trillion ft³ field's phase 12 was launched last month with output of 3bn ft³/d.
And state-owned gas producer NIGC expects Iranian gas output to increase by 67pc over the next three years. But POGC's planned start date for phases 15 and 16 and Iran's wider gas output goals may prove overly optimistic.
NIGC is prioritising the completion of the Igat 6 and Igat 9 pipelines in this Iranian year, $8.5bn in investment required for Igat 9, which would feed into pipelines crossing the Bazargan point at the Turkish border.
When Igat 9 was first proposed, in 2007, NIGC expected the pipeline to become a primary link to European gas markets. International sanctions forced delays to this and many other oil and gas projects. But with a deal over Tehran's nuclear programme between Iran and the P5+1 group of powers a realistic possibility, the country has refocused on the expensive, export-oriented pipeline.
But the country must tap its national development fund to pay for a number of oil and gas projects, including South Pars phases, and NIGC also requires $500mn to complete the 1,200km Igat 6 pipeline, connecting South Pars to the western Loram, Ilam and Kermanshah provinces.
Separately, five gas compression stations on the Igat 8 pipeline will be operational by March 2016. The 1,000km line carries about 3.9bn ft³/d from South Pars to Tehran and central Iran.
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