Iran says 50% of South Pars capacity restored after March Israeli strike

Half of the production capacity of Iran’s vital South Pars liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility has been restored, after an Israeli airstrike knocked it out of service in March, deputy oil minister Ahmad Zeraatkar said, quoted by the semi-official Fars agency.

Zeraatkar said the facility, one of the most important pieces of Iranian energy infrastructure, is expected to be fully operational “in the coming weeks”. He added that “the planned capacity restoration program has been fulfilled and all remaining measures will be completed before the start of winter”.

At the end of August, only about 40 percent of the damaged facility had been returned to production — so the move to 50 percent marks a new step in the recovery of Iran’s energy infrastructure, badly hit during the nearly seven-month war with the U.S. and Israel.

South Pars is the world’s largest gas field, shared between Iran and Qatar, and the main source of Iran’s domestic gas production — a strategic asset for the country’s economy and for regional energy supplies.

Source: Al Jazeera