Tehran seeks foreign backers for South Pars
Tehran is turning to Italy and Turkey in the latest effort to develop its South Pars gas field. The project has been increasingly hampered by international sanctions, led by the US.
Pars Oil & Gas Company (POGC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Iranian Oil Company, is lining up new backers for several long-delayed phases of its giant South Pars gas field development project.
POGC has revealed it is in discussions with Italy's Eni and the local Petropars to develop phases 19-21 of the South Pars field. Eni's proposal includes the installation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) conversion facilities, although Petropars has not offered this as an option.
In mid-August, Tehran also signed an agreement with Ankara to set up a joint venture company to develop phases 22-24 of the field. A pipeline extending from Assalouyeh in southern Iran to the Turkish border will carry 20 per cent of gas produced from phases 22-24, and Tehran is also hoping to secure gas export deals to the wider European market via Turkey.
Tehran says some details still need to be finalised before it can go ahead.
Iran's caretaker oil minister, Gholamhossein Nozari, says Turkey has been given two months to remove 'ambiguities' from the contract, and a further two months to sign the deal.
The two countries are already co-operating over gas, with plans to pipe gas from Turkmenistan to Turkey through Iranian territory.
Tehran was recently forced to raid its National Oil Stabilisation fund to finance the development of South Pars, after US pressure forced a French bank to pull out of the scheme (MEED 3:8:07).
Tehran is turning to Italy and Turkey in the latest effort to develop its South Pars gas field. The project has been increasingly hampered by international sanctions, led by the US.
Pars Oil & Gas Company (POGC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Iranian Oil Company, is lining up new backers for several long-delayed phases of its giant South Pars gas field development project. POGC has revealed it is in discussions with Italy's Eni and the local Petropars to develop phases 19-21 of the South Pars field. Eni's proposal includes the installation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) conversion facilities, although Petropars has not offered this as an option. In mid-August, Tehran also signed an agreement with Ankara to set up a joint venture company to develop phases 22-24 of the field. A pipeline extending from Assalouyeh in southern Iran to the Turkish border will carry 20 per cent of gas produced from phases 22-24, and Tehran is also hoping to secure gas export deals to the wider European market via Turkey. Tehran says some details still need to be finalised before it can go ahead. Iran's caretaker oil minister, Gholamhossein Nozari, says Turkey has been given two months to remove 'ambiguities' from the contract, and a further two months to sign the deal. The two countries are already co-operating over gas, with plans to pipe gas from Turkmenistan to Turkey through Iranian territory. Tehran was recently forced to raid its National Oil Stabilisation fund to finance the development of South Pars, after US pressure forced a French bank to pull out of the scheme (MEED 3:8:07).This content is only available to full MEED package subscribers (MEED magazine and MEED.com).
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