Iran drops PGNiG from Lavan project

The National Iranian Oil Company has set aside the Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) from developing Lavan gas field.

The Polish firm has been replaced by a consortium of local firms. The buy-back contract worth USD 1.9 billion has been awarded to Sepehr Enenrgy Corporation.

NIOC and PGNiG were in talks for four years to sign a deal, worth $5-7 billion, to develop the Lavan gas field, but the Polish company has repeatedly put off the final agreement.

The Lavan gas field, which was discovered in 2003, has in-place gas reserves of around 12 trillion cubic feet.

Currently, the early production plan of Lavan gas field with the capacity to produce 7-8 million cubic meters of gas per day is operational and the extracted gas is being used as the feed for Reshadat, Parsian and Salman platforms as well as Lavan oil refinery. 

The development plan is aimed to produce 30 million cubic feet of natural gas per day from the field.

Iran sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia.