Daily gas production in south Pars reach 290mcm

Iran plans to increase its daily production capacity in the giant South Pars Gas Field to more than 290 million cubic meters by the end of the current Iranian year (March 2012), Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi announced on Sunday.\"So far, the production capacity has amounted to over 275 million cubic meters per day and it will surpass 290 million cubic meters by the end of this (Iranian) year,\" Public Relations Office of the Pars Oil and Gas Company quoted Qassemi as saying. The minister said that Phases 12, 15, 16, 17 and 18 of the South Pars gas field are due to come on stream during the current and the next years, but at the same time stressed the necessity for non-stop efforts for a timely accomplishment of the development projects. Last month, Iran announced that all the phases of the South Pars gas field would come on stream by October 2015. Iran will complete phases 15 and 16 by April 2012 and phase 11 will be the last, Managing Director of the South Pars Gas and Oil Company Souri said in October. The South Pars gas field is located in the Persian Gulf, north of Iran\'s maritime border with Qatar. The Iranian share, which is divided into 24 phases, has about 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, or about eight percent of the total world reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas resources. Iran has 137.6 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and 29.61 trillion cubic meters of proven gas reserves, ranking second in the world in both oil and gas reserves.