Iran has announced the discovery of a substantial new natural gas deposit within the South Pars field, with total reserves estimated at 7.5 trillion cubic feet, Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said Sunday.
Of the total volume, approximately 5.7 trillion cubic feet is considered recoverable, equivalent to 15 years of production from a single phase of the field, Paknejad said. The deposit also contains significant volumes of high-value gas condensate potentially worth billions of dollars.
South Pars, the Iranian portion of the world's largest offshore gas field shared with Qatar, has faced disruption from Israeli military strikes since late February. An industry official warned that attacks by the United States and Israel had reduced the field's production capacity by a third. A ceasefire and 60-day negotiation period agreed in June expired Monday.