“After Iran signed the nuclear deal this has opened the door for us to help them with making more use of South Pars, and the plan is to give them advice on technology and exploring the geology of the field,” Reuters quoted an unnamed QP source as saying on Monday.
The source was referring to the November breakthrough deal Iran clinched with six world powers on the resolution of its nuclear issue.
A Qatari government official said the bulk of easily recoverable gas in South Pars lies in the area on either side of Iran-Qatar maritime border.
“There has been a lot of drilling activity in that area and we have many studies on the field that I'm sure can benefit Iran,” the official added.
Iran Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has prioritized a rapid increase in gas production from South Pars, which Qatar calls North Dome.
Some in Doha believe Iran's relations with the West have thawed enough for experts in Qatar's multinational energy industry to share some knowledge already gathered from probing deep below the seabed.
Iran's energy minister said in August that he wants the two countries to work together to maximize production and there are signs that they are looking to cooperate.
Earlier this month, Qatar’s Minister of Energy and Industry Mohammed Saleh Al-Sada said his country has established “channels of communications” for cooperation with Iran.
“We always explore the means of cooperation and coordination together,” he said.
Iran is set to start pumping natural gas from Phase 12 of South Pars soon. Phase 12 is the South Pars’ biggest phase in terms of volume of activities as well as investment and production levels.
When fully operational, Phase 12 will see some 75 million cubic meters (mcm) of sweet gas pumped into the national gas network per annum.
The South Pars gas field is estimated to contain 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of gas condensate. It covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which lie in Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.
SHI/SHI