Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh also accompanied the president in the ceremony that was held in the southern city of Assaluyeh where the refinery is located on Sunday.

Each of the phases are being developed for production of 56 mcm/d of natural gas, 75,000 barrels/day of gas condensate and 400 t/d of sulfur. The phases are also expected to yield 1.05 million tons of liquefied petroleum gas (propane and butane) and 1 million tons of ethane to feed petrochemical plants annually.

The items produced at the phases are valued at roughly $5 billion per year.

Iran has invested $10 billion in the two megaprojects which exceed 2% of the country's gross domestic product.

By inauguration of the projects, for the first time, Iran’s gas recovery from South Pars joint gas field exceeds that of Qatar. The two countries share the field in Persian Gulf waters.

Along with opening the two megaprojects, the president also launched gas metering systems of South Pars refineries (Metering), the Mercaptan Production Plant in Assaluyeh, and the strategic Assalouyeh-Kangan Ethane Pipeline via video conference.