Iran's Khatam-ol-Anbia Construction Headquarters has withdrawn from the development plan of South Pars gas field's phases 15 and 16, Mehr news agency has reported. The National Iranian Oil Co did not provide further details about the firm's pullout from the project. In July 2006, an Iranian consortium led by Khatam-ol-Anbia Construction Headquarters signed a $2bn contract for carrying out the development plan of the mentioned phases. Development operations of the South Pars phases 15 and 16, which started in January 2007, aim to produce 50 million cubic meters of refined natural gas per day as well as one million tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas and one million tonnes of ethane per year.