Iran needs $50 billion investment not to become a natural gas importer
A top oil official in Iran has said that if new investments are not made in natural gas industry, the country will become a net importer in the next few years.
Iran has the second largest natural gas reserves in the world, holding more than 17 percent of global discovered gas fields.
Mohsen Khojastepur, general director of the Iranian national oil company said that if investments in the gas industry are not secured Iran will become a net importer in the coming years.
Just to maintain current production, Iran needs to invest up to $50 billion in its gas fields, especially in the Persian Gulf offshore South Pars reserves shared with Qatar.
The last chance Iran had of collaboration with a Western energy giant was a $5 billion deal it had struck with Total in 2016 to develop the South Pars gas fields, which fell apart in 2018 when former US president Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and began imposing sanctions.
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