Mohammad Meshkinfam said 10 platforms are under construction at the yard of the Iran Marine Industrial Company (SADRA) and one is being built at the yard of the Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries Complex Co (ISOICO).

Installation of the platforms which belong to phases 13, 14, 22, 23 and 24 of the supergiant gas field will be complete by the end of the current calendar year or early next year, Meshkinfam said.

Last week, the official had said gas recovery from the field will reach 3 billion cubic feet per day (an equivalent of 84 million cubic meters) per day once the first production chain of the mentioned phases completes in the first half of the current calendar year.

Iran has so far invested $72 billion for development of the gas field which it shares with Qatar in Persian Gulf waters.

The sum is expected to cross 87 billion dollars by the time all phases of the field come on-stream.

Currently, Iran supplies 70% of its demand for natural gas. The country's natural gas output is tantamount to its crude oil production.