Iran Discovers Large Gas FieldIran announced on Sunday it has discovered a large gas field with a on-spot gas reserve of up to 6.7 trillion cubic feet (about 187.6 billion cubic meters).Seyed Mahmoud Mohaddes, director for exploration affairs of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said the gas field, named as "Homa", was discovered in the southern province of Fars. He said the economic value of gas and gaseous liquids in the gas field was estimated at about 4.7 billion U.S. dollars while the cost of drilling operation and analyzing geological layers at about 18 billion rials (about 2.25 million dollars at the market rate). Mohaddes told the Islamic Republic News Agency that the gas field, located 45 kilometers north of the Persian Gulf coast, also has a reserve of 82 million barrels of on-spot gaseous liquids. Putting the exploitation index of the field at 70 percent, the official said the field is expected to yield 4.74 trillion cubic feet (about 132.72 billion cubic meters) of gas and 58 million barrels of gaseous liquids. The Homa gas field, located at an altitude of 1,350 meters, is 40 kilometers long and 5.5 kilometers wide, he said, adding the depth of its gaseous layer is about 650 meters. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh announced in April that the largest sweet gas field in the world was discovered in southern Iran with an estimated reserve of more than 445 billion cubic meters of gas and over 240 million barrels of liquid gas. After Russia, Iran ranks the second in the world with a proven gas reserve of 21 trillion cubic meters. Iran also has a share in the world's large gas field in the Gulf which has an estimated reserve of over 12 trillion cubic meters. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/ |