Iran earmarks $5 billion for South Pars projects

TEHRAN,July 11(MNA) - Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said that $5 billion of the National Development Fund (NDF) has been allocated to the South Pars gas field development projects. The Shana News Agency quoted Qasemi as saying that the sum will be spent to accelerate the development of phases 20-24 of the project. On July 2, the NDF and the Oil Ministry inked a deal, based on which the NDF will earmark $14 billion of its assets to oil industry projects, of which $5 billion will be allocated for South Pars. Over 70 percent of the sum will be spent on the development of oil and gas fields as well as expanding the upstream sector of the oil industry, Qasemi said, adding that the rest will be channeled into refining infrastructure. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that the National Development Fund’s assets would hit $55 billion by the end of this year. At least 20 percent of the fund’s credits will be allocated to promoting foreign investment, according to Iran's Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Shamseddin Hosseini. According to the Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (2010-2015), the National Development Fund was established to transform oil and gas revenues to productive investment for future generations. Iran transfers 20 percent of its oil revenues to National Development Fund. The South Pars gas field is shared by Iran and Qatar. The Iranian share, which is divided into 29 phases, has about 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, or about eight percent of the total world reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas resources.