Iran to issue €3bn in South Pars bonds

Ahmad Qal’ebani made the remarks on Friday, adding that it will be the first time Iran is offering participation bonds to domestic investors in euros, the Oil Ministry’s official website Shana reported. 

"We will issue the bonds inside the country from Saturday, for five days," he added.

Qal’ebani, who is also the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company, stated that the bonds will be offered in one, five, ten, fifty, and one hundred thousand euro notes, and will yield dividends of up to 8 percent during four years of maturity. 

He noted that Iranian nationals residing overseas can also purchase the bonds for the development of the offshore field. 

The gas field absorbed more than $10.7 billion in the current Iranian calendar year (which ends on March 20, 2011), and some $6 billion worth of forex and rial participation bonds have been issued to finance various phases of the field during the 12-month period. 

The gas field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which (i.e. South Pars) are in Iranian territorial waters. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers (i.e. North Dome) are in Qatar’s territorial waters. 

The South Pars field has 14 trillion cubic meters of natural gas -- about eight percent of the world’s reserves -- and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas resources. 

Iran discovered 13 new oil and gas fields with in-place reserves of 14 billion barrels of oil and 45 trillion cubic feet of natural gas between August 2009 and August 2010, according to the Iranian Oil Ministry. 

Iran has the world’s second largest natural gas reserves after Russia.