Speaking in a live televised interview, Masoud Karbasian said on Saturday that development of various sections of the project would be awarded to Iranian companies.

Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC), a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), signed a $440m deal with Petropars Company for developing Belal Gas Field in the Persian Gulf on Saturday.

The buyback contract, which is to be enclosed to the integrated and master development plan of South Pars phases 11 to 24, is aimed at daily production of 500 million cubic feet (an equivalent of 14 million cubic meters per day) of rich gas in 34 months. The produced gas will be processed at the onshore refinery of South Pars Phase 12. 

Based on the deal, Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) will serve as the employer of the contract and will carry out reservoir studies and arrange sideline licensing rounds for the purposes of the project. Accordingly, the company is required to tap the capabilities of local manufacturers and contractors.

For its part, the contractor of the project, Petropars, is required to drill 8 wells in the offshore field, launch wellhead jackets and build and install a topside with 500 mcf/d of gas production capacity as well as a seabed pipeline with an estimated length of 20 kilometers.

Belal Gas Field is located east of South Pars in the Persian Gulf and 90 km southwest of Lavan Island.