Javad Owji made the comments in his talks with reporters on the sidelines of a weekly cabinet meeting in Tehran.
The installation operation of SP Phase 11 platform planned by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) started on Tuesday and was successfully completed on Wednesday in collaboration with Petropars Company and Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company (IOEC), using the Oceanic-5000 Crane Barge.
The 3,200-ton platform, the heaviest in the South Pars field, was moved and installed in an unprecedented operation by Iranian experts, and gas production from the strategic phase will start soon after over 20 years, SHANA reported.
The contract of development of SP Phase 11 signed with foreign companies in 2000 was handed off, regretted Owji, recalling that several foreign companies, including France’s Total and CNPC International, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), did nothing important and the operation of the most important phase of the giant gas field at the zero border point stopped.
The Ministry of Oil under President Raisi's administration mobilized the oil industry and managed to install the huge platform of SP Phase 11, he continued.
Gas production from Phase 11 will amount to 10 to 15 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) in the first phase, said the minister, adding the output will gradually reach 50 mcm/d.