Major gas field holding 7.5 tcf discovered in southern Iran
Iran has discovered a natural gas field in southern Fars Province with more than 7.5 trillion cubic feet (212 billion cubic meters) of gas in place, Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said on Sunday.
The field holds approximately 5.7 tcf (161 bcm) of recoverable gas, Paknejad told state television.
The minister described the discovery as equivalent to 15 years of production from one phase of South Pars, the world’s largest gas field, which Iran shares with Qatar.
Paknejad highlighted a key advantage of the new find, saying the field, known as Takhteh, contains sweet natural gas, which has relatively low levels of sulfur compounds and is therefore expected to reduce development and operating costs.
He added that substantial volumes of gas condensates were also present at the field, which could bring “tens of billions of dollars” in new wealth to the country.
“The immediate priority is to plan and carry out development work as quickly as possible so that the field can be brought into production in the shortest possible time and the extracted gas supplied to industry and other energy-intensive sectors,” he said.
The discovery could provide Iran with an additional source of natural gas at a time when the country is seeking to expand domestic production and meet growing demand from industry and the power sector.
Iran has relied on domestic investment and expertise to develop its oil and gas fields since 2018, when the US imposed sweeping sanctions on the country’s energy sector.
The find is part of an ongoing, concentrated exploration push stretching from southern Fars province into northern Bushehr province. The site sits adjacent to the Pazan gas field, where exploration resumed last year after an eight-year pause, leading to an additional 10 tcf in-place gas discovery and 200 million barrels of crude oil.
Oil Ministry officials expect fields in this southern cluster to take roughly 40 months to fully develop before commercial production yields results.
In October 2025, Paknejad announced the discovery of significant gas and oil reserves at the Pazan field in southern Fars province, describing it as capable of playing a major role in addressing Iran’s energy imbalance in the coming years.