Iran has offered a 10 per cent stake in the South Pars Phase-12 gas field to Venezuela's national oil firm PdVSA, Petropars Managing Director G R Manouchehri said.
The $7.8 billion scheme, in which a consortia of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Hinduja Group have signed for 40 per cent stake, is one of the biggest-ever developments at the South Pars gas field, involving three phases with output of 3 billion cubic feet per day of gas, 120,000 barrels per day of condensate and a possible eventual liquefied natural gas element involving at least 8.5 million tonnes per annum.
Sonangol of Angola has a 20 per cent stake and Petropars has the remaining 40 per cent interest.
"Our share will come down to 30 per cent upon PdVSA taking 10 per cent," he said on the sidelines of the Petrotech-2010 oil and gas conference here.
Petropars has secured and mobilised a second jack-up rig to help drill 45 wells and recently started laying the first of three 32-inch sealines as it gears up for first production in two years time from the project.
The Phase 12 production facilities are in the Persian Gulf, with the gas being piped to onshore processing plants 135 kilometres away at Bandar Tombak.
He said Petropars hopes to secure Indian participation in the project by March 2011.
The South Pars Phase-12 (SP-12) project will produce 3 billion cubic feet per day of gas from 2014, two-third of which will be converted into liquefied natural gas (LNG) for exports. The remaining 1 billion cubic feet per day will be for domestic consumption in Iran.
Besides, SP-12 will also produce 120,000 barrels per day of condensate and other products like LPG and ethane, he said.
The gas from the project will be taken by Iran-LNG, which is building a $5 billion plant at Tombak Port by 2011 to tern it into liquid state so that it can be shipped in cryogenic vessels. "Indians companies can take stake in the liquefication plant and buy LNG," he said.
The gas from SP-12 will be sufficient for making 10 million tons of LNG, 60 per cent of which can go to India.
After years of tough negotiations, Iran had in December last year signed agreements to give ONGC-Hinduja combine a 40 per cent stake in SP-12. ONGC and Hinduja Group firm Ashok Leyland Projects Services along with Petronet LNG also signed pact to take 20 per cent stake in Iran-LNG.
OVL, along with IndianOil and Oil India, is to invest $5.5 billion in developing the Farzad-B gas field in the Farsi block.
Phase 12 is the largest of the 28 Phases in which the South Pars gas field in Persian Gulf has been divided. Petropars, a subsidiary of National Iranian Oil Co, would holds the remaining 60 per cent in SP-12. It may give 20 per cent interest to Angolan national oil firm Sonangol.
Iran will also sell 6 million tonnes a year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India to meet its growing energy needs.
Sources said Iran does not give foreign firms ownership of oil and gas and instead pays a fixed fee on the investment made. Indians would, however, get LNG in return.
Phase 12 field is the southeastern block of the South Pars Gas field and is on the border with Qatar and extends over 150 sq km. At 35 tcf, it contains almost seven per cent of reserves in the South Pars gas field.
