Iran is preparing to start drilling works on its second largest gas field amid efforts by the country to further boost its natural gas output to meet a growing domestic demand for energy.
Deputy Oil Minister Mohsen Khojasteh Mehr said in a TV interview late on Monday that the National Iranian Drilling Company had stationed two of its rigs at Kish gas field in the Persian Gulf to start drilling for natural gas in the area very soon.
Khojasteh Mehr said Iran expects to fully develop Kish gas field in four phases in the next four years with a total investment of $7 billion to reach a daily output of 120 million cubic meters (mcm) from the field.
He said a first phase of the field will come on line within the next 14 months with an investment of $900 million to add some 28 mcm per day to Iran’s natural gas output.
The Kish gas field, located close to the resort island of Kish, was discovered in 2006 and holds some 1.4 trillion cubic meters of recoverable gas.
Iran currently produces just more than 1 billion cubic meters per day of gas of which more than 700 mcm comes from South Pars, the world’s largest gas field that straddles the maritime border between Iran and Qatar in the Persian Gulf.
Khoajasteh Mehr said Iran has invested some $85 billion in South Pars in years after the Islamic revolution of 1979, of which some $22 billion has been spent in years after 2011 when Iran was grappling with sanctions targeting its access to foreign investment and technology.
Khoajasteh Mehr said Iran’s gas output will increase by 500 mcm per day in 2030, a fourth of which will be supplied from Kish gas field.