ASSALUYEH (PIN) – Iran’s Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said Ferdowsi field in the Persian Gulf held more than 30 billion barrels of in-place crude oil.

During his visit to development plans of South Pars field here, the minister told reporters that the Swiss company Adax had conducted new studies on Ferdowsi field, showing that over 30 billion barrels of in situ crude existed there.
“We are outlining plan on the development of the field,” added Nozari.
The minister paid visits to phases 6-10 of South Pars field Thursday.
He firstly visited phases 9 and 10 and was briefed on related executive operations.
Later in the day, Nozari inspected phases 6, 7, and 8 as well as Arya Sasol, Jam, Kavian, Mehr, and Morvarid petrochemical complexes.
Akbar Torkan, Petroleum Ministry’s planning manager, Ali Vakili, Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) managing director, and Gholamreza Manuchehri, Petropars Company managing director, are accompanied the minister.
Nozari said Phase 6 was ready for exploitation as all tests yielded satisfactory results.
According to him, Phase 7 would come on stream by March 2008 and Phase 8 would become operational next May.
He expressed his satisfaction with the progress of phases 9 and 10, however, adding the two phases faced with a minor problem regarding supply of products.
Nozari expressed hope the necessary products would be provided at due time and the two phases would be put into operation next summer.
Shifting to supply of fuel in the upcoming winter, Nozari said consumption depended on climatic conditions.
He said enough fuel had been stockpiled for winter, calling on people to use the energy carriers appropriately in the cold season and help the ministry heat their homes more easily.
The minister said Petroleum Ministry, National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), and producing companies such as National Iranian Central Oil Company (NICOC), and Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) were making every effort to meet the gas need of industrial, household, and commercial sectors.
Explaining about investments made in joint and independent oil and gas fields, he said, “We are now implementing several projects concurrently and separately as we are developing joint fields and independent fields such as North Pars, Golshan, and Ferdowsi separately and simultaneously.”
He added the contractors had shown interest in participation in the development plans of independent oil and gas fields of the country.
“Iran’s oil industry is very appealing to foreign investors and we welcome them,” said the top official, adding, “For this reason, we are holding talks with Chinese companies on the development of North Pars field and with Malaysian companies on the development of independent Golshan and Ferdowsi fields.”
Talking about the development of the remaining six phases of South Pars field, Nozari said the country was holding negotiations with Turkish companies on three phases and the other three phases would be put out to international tender.
According to the plan, 28 gas refineries, 25 petrochemical projects, and three liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants will be constructed in the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone.
Phases 1-5 have so far come on stream and phases 6-8 will become operational by the upcoming winter.
When phases 6-8 are put into operation, 104 million cubic meters of sour gas will be pumped to Khuzestan Province through a 56 inch pipeline per day to inject into Aghajari oilfield.
Phases 9 and 10 have been designed to produce two billion cubic feet of gas a day. The two phases are to yield 50 million cubic meters of methane, 2,600 tons of ethane, 1,200 tons of butane, 2,000 tons of propane, 77,000 tons of gas condensates, and 400 tons of solid sulfur daily.
South Pars is the world’s largest gas field, holding almost half of Iran’s gas reserves.
Located in the strategic Persian Gulf, South Pars -- the largest known gas reserves -- is shared between Iran and the tiny emirate of Qatar. It contains 1,900 TCF of in place gas and 56 billion barrels of in situ condensate in the shared region.
Production started from South Pars after commissioning of Phase 2 in Dec. 2002.