Iran is expected to more than triple its natural gas production in 2017 and will export more than a third of this output, an executive from the country's tanker company said Wednesday.
Iran, which holds the world's second-largest natural gas reserves, will produce 1.45 billion cubic meters of gas a day in 2017 from 400 million cubic meters in 2008, Mohammad Souri, chairman and managing director of National Iranian Tanker Co., said.
Of this, 38% will be exported via pipelines or in liquefied form, he said at the Third Asia LNG Summit.
Iran has lined up projects in the Persian Gulf which will produce a total of 83 million metric tons a year of LNG for export by 2017, he added.
The first batch of Irani LNG is expected to be ready by 2012 and most of it will be exported to China, he said without specifying the volume.
However, analysts are skeptical Iran will be able to secure the liquefaction technology to meet its contractual commitments.
It has so far struggled to seal agreements on its natural gas reserves with foreign investors because of spiraling costs and U.S. sanctions.