Managing-Director of Pars Oil and Gas Company Ali Akbar Shabanpour told reporters on Thursday that 5 new phases of the South Pars gas field will be in service by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2017), leading to a 5 billion cubic feet per day increase in the country’s gas production.

He made the comments on the sidelines of a major operation to transport the platform of phase 18 of South Pars.

According to the official, employment of the five new standard phases will raise Iran’s extraction of gas from South Pars by 100 million cubic meters, making that equal to Qatar’s extraction from the joint field.

The South Pars gas field is one of the largest gas reservoirs in the world lying on the territorial border between Iran and the Persian Gulf state of Qatar. It is one of Iran’s main energy resources.

This gas field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, of which 3,700 square kilometers belongs to Iran.