French oil and gas major Total S.A. is expected to finalize an agreement to develop Phase 11 of the giant South Pars Gas Field within three months, Mohammad Meshkinfam, the chief executive of Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) said on Tuesday.
"Eighty percent of the work on drafting the contract with Total is complete," Meshkinfam was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Total signed a preliminary agreement, worth $4.8 billion, in Tehran last month to develop Phase 11 of South Pars in cooperation with China National Petroleum Corporation. South Pars is the world's largest gas field shared by Iran and Qatar.
Petropars, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, will be a minority stakeholder, with Total and CNPC holding a 50.1% and a 30% stake in the project respectively.
Manouchehri said a team of legal experts at the National Iranian Oil Company is drafting the contract. It is a U-turn from the previous buyback contracts in which foreign firms handed over the draft of an agreement to the Iranian side, the official added.
Manouchehri said that Iran's gas production from South Pars will reach 600 million cubic meters per day next year to equal Qatar's production rate.
Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Monday that Total has pledged its long-term commitment to the South Pars project by using its high-pressure boosters to raise gas output from Phase 11 to more than 50 mcm/d within 15-20 years.
The agreement with Total is an attempt to complete one of the least-developed phases of South Pars which has been plagued by years of procrastination despite significant headways in developing the megaproject that consists of 24 phases.
According to Zanganeh, production from Phase 11 is expected to begin 40 months after the final contract is signed with Total.
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