Iranian First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri and Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh attended a ceremony to start the big construction project in the district of Siraf, in the southern province of Bushehr, which borders the Persian Gulf.
The project, called "Siraf Comprehensive Refinery Plan", stretches in an area of around 300 hectares in the Pars-3 (Kangan) zone, located between the South Pars gas field's 13th and 19th phases.
The total output of the eight refineries combined will stand at 480,000 barrels per day (bpd).
The purpose of the project is to diversify the products obtained from the South Pars field, which will lead to more income and more jobs.
Refining and producing gas condensates will also guarantee maximum gas extraction from the field throughout the year.
The South Pars gas field, whose development has been divided into 28 phases, is located in the Persian Gulf straddling the maritime border between Iran and Qatar. It is estimated that the Iranian section of the field contains 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of condensates in place.
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.