Phases 9 and 10 pipe-laying manager Nozar Aryan added a C-master vessel laid the 94 km pipe with a daily record of over 2 km per day.

Comparing the pipe-laying operations of the two phases, he said the operations of Phase 9 of South Pars, due to bad weather in inter, faced a long delay, but Phase 10 was postponed just five days by climatic conditions as its operations were carried out in spring.

South Pars phases 15 and 16 pipe-laying project would kick off in next 17 months, said the offshore phases manager Abbas Haji-Qassemi.

The first and second prepayments of the project had been paid and the pipes had been ordered to a German company, he said, adding that the pipes would be imported in next 10 months and would be given to Khorramshahr Yard to be concreted or coated.

Totally $4 billion was allotted to the oil industry, of which $1 billion was given to National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), he added.

For the first time ever in Iran the domestic companies had navigated the offshore and onshore pipes, Haji-Qassemi said.