Iran awards contract for gas field shared with Qatar

In a ceremony on Sunday, the Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company (IOEC) won the contract to build the drilling rig.

The IOEC is supposed to build the 4-storey, 2,300-ton platform in the next 32 months, according to a report from the Iranian Oil Ministry.

The report said that Iran Marine Industrial Company, the largest shipbuilding yard in the country, has also been commissioned to build the jackets for the large platform.

The Belal gas field is located near South Pars, the largest gas field in the world which is shared between Iran and Qatar in the Persian Gulf.

Iran seeks to extract 500 million cubic feet (14.15 million cubic meters) per day of gas and 15,000 barrels of condensates from eight wells in Belal once the platform is installed at the field.

Petropars began exploration drilling at Belal in June 2022 and finally reached gas in January this year. The company, which is one the largest oil and gas firms in the West Asia region, won a contract to develop Belal in 2019.

Negotiations are also underway between Petropars and the IOEC for building a 150-kilometer pipeline that is needed to transfer sour gas from Belal to Iran's onshore refineries.

The Iranian Oil Ministry has awarded various contracts to domestic companies for the development of oil and gas fields since 2018 when foreign firms withdrew from the petroleum projects in the country because of US sanctions.

Petropas, which is also known by its official name Pars Oil and Gas Company, is planning to start gas production from Phase 11 of South Pars after it successfully installed a large platform on the field last month.