“This year’s first package of bonds is worth 2.7 billion euros and will be offered as of next week with the participation of three banks,” announced Managing-Director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Ahmad Qalebani.
The first batch issued at the end of the previous Iranian calendar year (March 2010) to fund South Pars gasfield projects was worth about 3 billion euros.
Qalebani says that a “major portion” of the total of 8.7 billion euros in bonds that are scheduled by the year’s end (March 20, 2012) “will be allocated for the development of the South Pars gasfield.”
Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Javad Oji says the funds will help Iran double its natural gas production capacity by 2015. Oji says the total investment in the projects will top $38 billion.