Addressing a Tuesday press conference held in Tehran to review the petroleum ministry's achievements ever since Hassan Rouhani took office in 2013, Zangeneh said the phases are nearly ready for operation but their exact date of inauguration is yet to be announced.
He said operator of the phases, Khatam al-Anbia Construction HQ, has voiced its readiness to launch the phases.
"We are waiting for all the works in the phases to complete and then launch it so nothing superficial will be done [regarding the phases]," he said.
Khatam al-Anbia, the engineering arm of Irans Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, won the tender bid for these two phases in 2005.
The first desalting train of the refinery was launched in 2013.
Production from Phases 15&16 of the offshore South Pars, jointly operated by Iran and Qatar, is forecast to reach 1.7 bcf/d in a month.
Phases 15&16 development of South Pars is aimed at producing 56.6 mcm/d of natural gas, 75,000 b/d of gas condensate, 400 tons a day of sulfur, 1.05 million tons a year of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and one million tons of ethane for feeding petrochemical plants.
A consortium comprising Iranian companies is in charge of offshore and onshore development of Phases 15&16 of South Pars.
South Pars is currently supplying 300 mcm/d of gas, which equals 72% of Irans total gas consumption. Nearly 100 mcm/d is projected to be added to South Pars gas production capacity while all 29 phases are expected to have been developed in three years.
South Pars Nearly to Complete before Rouhani Leaves Office
Elsewhere in his remarks, Zangeneh said all South Pars phases, except for Phase 14, will come on-stream by the time President Rouhani's administration ends in 2017.
Pointing to completion of Phase 12 development of the supergiant South Pars gas field, Zangeneh said Iran completed the phase under the sanctions by relying on domestic capabilities.
As he said, one of the most significant aftermaths of enhanced recovery from the field was providing more gas to power plants and industries.
In a report that the ministry's planning and supervision on hydrocarbon resources department released in August, only 28% of the fuel needed by Iranian power plants for their operation was supplied by LPG.
This is while the percentage for the earlier calendar year was 46%, said Zangeneh.
Iran Bent on Regaining Market Share
"Immediately after the sanctions relief, Iran will recapture its share in the oil market which is more than a million barrels a day," he said.
"During the first few days after the removal of sanctions, Iran will supply 500,000b/d of crude oil to the market which will increase by another 500,000b/d in a short while," he added.
He said by repeating remarks about Iran's readiness to add to its crude oil supplies to world markets, the country is in fact preparing the market for its return.
"The market must make room for Iranian oil barrels [after its return]," he said.
He said Iran's enhanced oil recovery is not a policy sought only by the petroleum ministry, saying it is a policy pursued by the administration.
"Every OPEC member supplies crude oil based on its production capacity and we must immediately raise our supply because if we put off our return to the market, we will have to beg others to buy every 10,000 barrels of our crude oil."
He also stressed the new circumstances in Iran after the sanctions, saying, "We have told the visiting representatives of foreign companies that they should accept the new state of play in Iran."
15% more Crude Exports
"Despite the sanctions in the past years which are still on the go, Iran's oil exports have increased," he said.
"Iran's oil exports during the first 4 months of the current [calendar] year rose 15% year-on-year which has proved very difficult."
By SHANA
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