TEHRAN August 12 (Shana)--South Pars Gas Complex will be able to supply 75% of the country's need for natural gas once it is fully developed, SPGC chief says.

Addressing a conference on Wednesday, he said SPGC will add three more refineries to its refinery fleet by the calendar year-end, March 20 2016.
He said the company is Iran's biggest refinery complex fed by the gas supplied from South Pars phases.

It currently contributes to the supply of 54% of the country's gas needs.
Hassani said plans are under way to raise the number of SPGC refineries to 14 in the coming years.

The official said the complex is poised to process as much natural gas as two times more than the crude oil produced by BP.

South Pars contains 40 trillion cubic meters (tcm) of natural gas. �It covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran�s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers are situated in Qatar�s territorial waters.

The gas field is estimated to contain about eight percent of the world�s reserves, and approximately 18 billion barrels of condensate.

The main phase of South Pars gas field came on-stream in March, increasing Iran�s gas production by 100 mcm/d.

By SHANA