TEHRAN August 2 (Shana)--Phases 17 and 18 of the supergiant South Pars gas field have gained 89.7% physical progress and are expected to come on-stream by March 2016, the projects manager of the phases has said.

Development of the phases started in 2007 and was estimated to take 52 months.

Hassan Boveiri said has said the platform at Phase 18 has so far recovered 15mcm of natural gas.

Phases 17&18 are to produce 50 mcm/d of natural gas, 80,000 b/d of gas condensate, 400 tons a day of sulfur, 1 million tons a year of ethane and 1.05 million tons a year o liquefied gas.

Iran�s Industrial Development and Renovation Organization (IDRO), IOEC, National Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company (NIOEC) and Iranian Marine Industrial Company are in charge of Phases 17&18.

South Pars is part of a wider gas field that is shared with Qatar. The larger field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran's territorial waters (South Pars) in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, referred to as the North Dome, are in Qatar's territorial waters.

The Iranian gas field contains 14 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, about 8 percent of the world's reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of condensate resources.

By SHANA