Qatar's Ambitious Leap to Develop Extraction from the World's Largest Gas Field; Iran Still Struggling with Imbalance

While Iran is facing numerous problems due to 'imbalance' in supplying gas for its domestic and industrial needs and has fallen behind in developing extraction from the South Pars gas field, Qatar is making significant strides in increasing its natural gas extraction and production with the participation of major global oil companies. This plan will increase Qatar's gas production capacity from 77 million tons this year to 126 million tons by 2026. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar's Minister of Energy, stated at a ceremony held for this occasion that the pioneering development plan will create a huge leap in his country's leadership in the energy sector, while also ensuring the optimal use of natural resources and providing a cleaner energy source to the world in the coming decades. He also mentioned, 'Locally, this project will have short-term and long-term effects that will be reflected across all sectors of Qatar's economy and will significantly increase the country's revenues.' This move by Qatar comes as Iran, the other partner in this shared field, faces many challenges in production and operation. Research indicates that many provinces in Iran have experienced gas and electricity outages this year. Additionally, the supply of natural gas to factories and petrochemicals has been limited, and Iran is unable to meet its petrochemical production goals. South Pars is a shared gas field between Iran and Qatar, the largest natural gas field in the world, containing 50.97 trillion cubic meters of gas and nearly 7.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas condensates. South Pars accounts for 10% of the world's total gas reserves. This field alone holds 40% of Iran's gas reserves, but Iran's share of extraction from this resource is much less than that of its southern neighbor. Doha has produced 2.5 times more gas from the South Pars shared field than Tehran, having installed many platforms years ago and is now preparing for a 40% increase in gas production from this field. Qatar's development of the South Pars gas field will solidify the country as one of the largest natural gas producers in the world. This could help Qatar strengthen its position in global energy markets and increase its revenues. Continued arrests of activists during the strike of South Pars oil workers; reports by Roozbeh Boulaheri. The end of the strike by workers in South Pars has been denied; reports by Roozbeh Boulaheri. Results of a study: Why has Iran fallen into a severe electricity and gas crisis? Exclusive; workers in Khuzestan were forced to work during a two-day nationwide shutdown. 'Imbalance' in gas production and consumption is pushing Iran towards gas imports.