Iran says 40% of capacity at its giant gas field has been restored

Iran said that 40 percent of the damaged capacity of the South Pars gas field has been restored, according to the semi-official news agency Fars – adding, however, that it will take at least two years to rebuild the facility attacked by Israel this year.

“With the tools we have, we managed to restore about 40 percent of the damaged capacity. However, the damage that has been inflicted is very severe. It will definitely take at least two years of work just for those sites to be rebuilt,” Iran’s deputy oil minister, Ahmad Zeraatkar, told Fars on Thursday.

Iranian officials have acknowledged the desruptions to energy exports that are vital for government finances, but have sought to play them down.

Zeraatkar said that by targeting energy, the US and Israel seek to curtail the government’s ability to provide for the public.

Earlier this week, Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad acknowledged that oil sales have “decreased to some extent” during the US blockade, but said they have “continued” nonetheless.

South Pars is part of the world’s largest natural gas reserves, located offshore in the Persian Gulf. It is shared between Iran and Qatar, which calls its part of it the North Field.

In March, an Israeli strike on Iranian facilities in the South Pars gas field marked a significant escalation in the war, prompting a furious Iran to attack major energy facilities of its Gulf neighbors, sending oil prices surging, and leading US President Donald Trump to threaten to “blow up” South Pars if Iran didn’t stop.