Managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) detailed $17 billion investment opportunities for domestic and foreign investors, Mehr news agency reported.
In the wake of three international tenders on design, construction, and operation of mini liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants, construction of the sixth branch of Iran National Gas Trunkline (IGAT 6), and gas supplies to power plants in Sistan-Baluchestan Province, additional gas tenders are to be announced in the near future, Hossein Montazer Torbati said Saturday.
Approximately $17 billion investment opportunities were defined in the gas sector, with prominence having been given to construction of gas transfer pipelines and compressor stations. There is no limit on foreign investment, the official noted.
Out of the $17 billion, $10 billion will be allocated for construction of IGAT6, IGAT9, and IGAT11, stretching from South Pars gas field, off the Persian Gulf coast, to different regions across the country.
Gas supply projects, valued at $4 billion, were offered through a public tender, for completion of which several Iranian private firms as well as few foreign companies have expressed interest.
Gas supply project to power plants, industries, and households in Sistan-Baluchestan Province is valued at $1.5 billion. Construction of IGAT 6, IGAT 9, IGAT 11, and gas compressor stations are among the projects to be offered by the NIGC in the near future.
Oil and gas authorities have planned to focus on gas projects in Sistan-Baluchestan Province, mostly on account of the Iran-Pakistan pipeline project being extended until 2017. The government expects to reimburse investments in the gas supply projects through a reduction in consumption of petroleum products and conservations to be fulfilled in five gas-fueled power plants.
Despite sanctions imposed on Iran’s energy sector over Tehran’s nuclear program, three international gas tenders were held in the past month, Montazer Torbati asserted.
Earlier in February, the government called on private investors willing to bid for the pipe-laying project to transfer Iran’s gas to Iraq. The public tender, valued at $1.5 billion, concerns fulfillment of the project in the form of build, operate, transfer (BOT) agreement. Costs are to be fully reimbursed through the revenues generated by the exported gas to the western neighbor.
