Iran’s gas export ambitions:

still hazy after all these years

Stand on the beach at Assaluyeh in western Iran and look out to sea to the south-west. Roughly 100 km out lies South Pars, Iran’s portion of the world’s largest non-associated gas fi eld. Shared with Qatar, which calls its portion the North Field, this immense geological structure holds over half of Iran’s 27,000 bcm (billion cubic metres) of proved gas reserves – more than any country in the world except Russia. With gas riches like these, it is no surprise that Iran has long harboured ambitions to become one of the world’s major exporters.