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Novel Gas Economy

“Today’s energy should be environment friendly and serve sustainable development in line with our sophisticated technologies and the information age as well as the emerging principles of novel gas economy.” This was the new vision presented by Ahmad Rahgozar, vice president of NIOC and president of NIOC International. His statements in brief follow:

Middle East Gas: The Middle East has some 52.5 TCM of gas reserves. It can be a key gas exporter to Europe, Asia and other markets. Notwithstanding its 35% of world gas reserves, the Middle East has not been able to arrive at a share of the world output and trade proportionate with its reserve base. This is due to long distances to end-users and lack of suitable technologies. Taking into account the difference in pricing, the Middle East stands to provide attractive benefits for petrochemicals and LNG and GTL projects in the area.

Iran offers a good basis for foreign investment in natural gas development projects in light of its political and economic stability.

Second Best: Iran has some 18% of the world’s natural gas resources. We currently produce 280 mmcm/d and plan to raise it to 550 by the end of our current Five-Year Development Plan.
The National Iranian Oil Company pursues vast natural gas projects aiming at domestic and foreign markets. Several contracts have been sealed and new agreements are underway. We plan to export our natural gas via pipelines to Turkey, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and India. On the LNG front, agreements have been inked with BP, Reliance, TotalFinaElf, Petronas, Repsol, and Shell aiming at Asian and European markets. We are now conducting technical and commercial feasibility studies for some of these ventures.
These projects would be established in and around the Assaluyeh port at the south of the country. Some ten percent of the world natural gas reserves are located in that area. Moreover, about eight natural gas deposits as well as the South Pars natural gas field are there within a radius of 150 kilometers of that port. NIOC plans to invest some ten billion dollars there and attract even more in foreign corporate funds in the current development plan to realize different gas projects in the area.

Iran’s Ace: A main plank of our natural gas development plans is the South Pars natural gas field. Expansion of this giant field is one of the major schemes for the country’s gas reserves. With commissioning of its 12 phases of development, 12 billion cubic feet per day dry gas, 6.3 million tons per year ethane, 6 million tons per year LPG and 20 million tons per year condensate will be produced. As a result, considerable volume of feedstock with competitive prices will be available. Meanwhile, NIOC is planning to further extend South Pars projects up to 25 phases.

Well Positioned: In light of its favorable political and economic potentials and stability, Iran provides a good basis for natural gas related foreign investment. Natural gas investments will total some 150 billion US dollars in the next decade in the Middle East. Iran stands well positioned to attract a good portion of that figure. The Assaluyeh Port may serve as a proper focus for these developments.