Daily gas output from regions under the jurisdiction of South Zagros Oil and Gas Production Company has increased since early this year, and is projected to touch 221 million cubic meters in the current Iranian year (ending March 19, 2016), the company's managing director said.
"The region's daily production rate has so far exceeded the production plan announced by the National Iranian Oil Company by about 2 mcm," Gholamhossein Montazeri was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
Noting that the company's average gas output rate stood at 181 mcm per day in the March-September period, Montazeri said the company has drilled 12 new wells that will become operational by the yearend to meet peak demand during winter.
More than 30% of Iran's gas are produced in five gas-rich operational regions of SZOGPC, namely Nar-Kangan, Aghar-Dalan, Parsian, Qeshm-Sarkhoun, Sarvestan and Sa'adatabad.
The company is one of the three subsidiaries of Iranian Central Oil Fields Company and generates an average of 250 mcm of gas, equivalent to 71,000 barrels, per day.
The projected amount of gas output this year amounts to the daily production rate of South Pars Phase 9.
Earlier this year, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said the country faced a massive shortage of 160 million cubic meters of gas per day when he took office in mid-2013.
But the deficit was reduced after the ministry prioritized the development of South Pars phases, the country's biggest gas field, and boosted natural gas output by 120 mcm/d, following the launch of several phases by March 2015.
According to officials, 15 out of 29 South Pars phases will go on stream by mid-2017, and as of 2018, daily production from the gas field will amount to 600 million cubic meters in addition to 1 million condensates.
