Iran announces new gas field in Gulf

02/02/2008 15:22 TEHRAN, Feb 2 (AFP)

A gas field with an estimated 11 trillion cubic feet in reserves has
been discovered in the Gulf off the coast of Iran, Oil Minister Gholam
Hossein Nozari said on Saturday.

"A gas field with an estimated reserve of 11 trillion cubic feet (311
billion cubic metres) was found by an Indian company in the Persian
Gulf," Nozari told a news conference.

Nozari declined to reveal the name of the company but said "there will
be talks with the discovering company for (the field’s) development if
they are interested."

Iran has the world’s second-largest proven gas reserves after Russia
and has ambitions to export gas to a host of countries including
Armenia, Pakistan, Syria.

Despite vast gas reserves, the country has not grown to be a major
international exporter due to slow progress in exploiting its fields
combined with a lack of foreign investment.

Despite its export plans, Iran has recently been forced to import gas
from neighbouring Turkmenistan to cover high domestic consumption.

The imports were stopped at the end of December due to what
Turkmenistan called technical hitches. They have yet to be resumed.

Iran noramlly imports 20 to 23 million cubic metres (700 million to 810
million cubic feet) of gas daily from Turkmenistan — amounting to
around five percent of its total consumption.

Iran’s only gas exports are to Turkey which usually receives around 20
million cubic metres (700 million cubic feet) each day.

Iran had to cut the exports to Turkey for three weeks earlier this year
due to the combination of the lack of Turkmenistan gas and severe cold
weather.