South Pars restores half of war-damaged gas capacity
Iran has restored about 50% of the gas production capacity damaged at its South Pars field during the 40-day US-Israeli war that began on Feb. 28, a deputy oil minister said, as the country works to repair the damage ahead of winter.
Ahmad Zeraatkar told Fars news agency that some damaged units had been brought back online ahead of schedule as part of a program launched after the attacks on South Pars facilities in March.
"With the measures taken, about 50% of the damaged capacity had returned to service by Sept. 22, and production in this part has resumed," he said.
He did not give a figure for the volume of capacity restored. Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad, however, told Parliament's Energy Commission on Tuesday that Iran had recovered 100 million cubic meters of gas processing capacity after four gas refineries were taken offline.
Zeraatkar said four domestic financing projects had been launched as part of one of the country's largest financing arrangements, with reconstruction work now under way.
"The planned capacity restoration program has been achieved, and all the planned measures will be completed before the start of winter," he added.
According to the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), damage to gas industry facilities during the war was extensive, with nearly 7,924 cases recorded.
Attacks on four South Pars gas refineries in March reduced gas production capacity by about 230 million cubic meters.
Paknejad said the four refineries going offline had resulted in the loss of about 230 million cubic meters of gas processing capacity. Efforts to use spare capacity at other refineries had allowed Iran to recover nearly 100 million cubic meters of that loss, he said.
"However, a shortfall of more than 120 million cubic meters remains and will be added to this year's gas imbalance, requiring the development and implementation of precise and specific management mechanisms," he said.
According to NIGC, Iran's gas industry had already been facing a daily shortfall of about 300 million cubic meters before the war.
Iran has about 34 trillion cubic meters of proven natural gas reserves, making it the world's second-largest holder of gas reserves after Russia. The country accounts for about 17% of global proven gas reserves.
Despite its vast reserves, a significant portion of Iran's gas potential remains undeveloped because of sanctions-related constraints and insufficient investment.