Iran plans major gas investments

TEHRAN, June 29 (UPI) -- Gas production from Iran will be more than five times that of national oil production under the terms of a five-year development plan, officials said.

Tehran has rolled out a series of major expansions to its oil and gas sector in a five-year investment and development plan slated for a 2010 launch.

Masood Hashemian, a deputy vice minister of international investments, told the Iranian Petroenergy Information Network that gas production from Iran would reach new levels in the wake of the development plan.

"A considerable increasing in natural gas production in the next ten years, Iran share of world natural gas exportation market will surpass 15 percent," he said.

He noted Iran has the potential to produce 60 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day in the next decade and nearly 40 billion cfd under the five year plan.

In terms of exports, he said natural gas shipments through various pipeline projects would reach 7.7 billion cfd with massive increases expected for liquefied natural gas.

Iran has moved to increase its energy infrastructure, reaching agreements on the Persian Pipeline to markets toward Europe and the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline to Asia.

Iran holds the second-largest gas reserves in the world behind Russia.