About 50 percent of IranÕs gas reserves are in South Pars in southern Bushehr province. Photo by Ali Hassanpour

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has approved the implementation of lucrative South Pars (SP) projects in the form of joint stock partnership, observed deputy oil minister for planning affairs, Akbar Torkan.
He told Fars news agency on Monday that application forms for the shares of Iran LNG project will be available by next month noting that foreign individuals and companies can buy the shares as well.
The official said that Iran LNG is the first company to offer application forms for its shares.
He said that foreigners are interested in participating in these kind of projects which have huge profits.
Torkan said that the decision was approved by the Economic Council on Sunday, adding in fact this is among the most profitable moves which the people can take advantage of.
He said that fixed dividend would not be paid and shareholders would make profit based on the amount of the shares they purchase and the profit made from the project.
The shares will be offered in some specified locations outside of the country for Iranian expats and foreigners.
“With the agreement of the president, 80 percent of the total shares of the project can be sold,“ he concluded.
South Pars stretches over an area of 9,700 square km of which 3,700 square km lies in Iran. South Pars’ Iran section holds 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of gas condensates. About 50 percent of country’s gas reserves and eight percent of the world’s proven gas reserves are in South Pars.

Latest international reports suggest that the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman are among the world’s most polluted waters, said director of Sustainable Development and Environment Department of Strategic Studies Center.
“Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman are polluted by over 10 million tons of noxious wastes including those from wars, wastewater disposal as well as oil spills from tankers and ships,“ Sediqeh Babran was quoted by IRNA as saying on Monday.
Speaking at a conference on regional cooperation and outcomes of Kuwait Convention in Tehran, she further stated that over 75 percent of 10,000 vessels ply regional waters each year carrying oil and oil derivates given that Persian Gulf states accounted for close to 28 percent of the world oil production in 2006.
Kuwait Regional Convention for Cooperation on the Protection of the Marine Environment from Pollution (Kuwait Convention) was adopted in 1978 and went into force in 1979.
“We are witnessing spillage of more than 1.5 tons of oil into these waters each year and this made International Maritime Organization declare Persian Gulf and Oman Sea special marine areas,“ the expert complained.
Marine Environment Protection Committee, a subsidiary of International Maritime Organization (IMO), declared Persian Gulf and Oman Sea as the special marine zones at its 56th session in London during July 9-13.
Special marine zones are regions which should be put under special care due their extreme environment sensitiveness and heavy traffic of ships and vessels.
Babran stated that pollution in these sea regions is 3.1 percent which is way above international standards. “It was hoped that the littoral states will cooperate among themselves and with international organizations to remove the environmental concerns about regional waters. In the three decades since the ratification of Kuwait Convention we are still witnessing irreparable environmental and economic damage to these marine ecosystems.“
Speaking at the same confab, deputy head of the center, Morteza Babak termed environmental concerns as the most important regional and international issues.
He added everybody knows today that protection of the environment and sustainable development are not limited to political borders since adverse impacts of mismanagement of natural resources affects all.
The official underlined that environmental problems can be resolved through greater cooperation among regional governments.

Parviz Fattah

Energy Minister Parviz Fattah has expressed Iran’s readiness to cooperate with Asian and Asia-Pacific nations in the energy, water and wastewater sectors.
The minister who was leaving Tehran to attend an Asian ministerial meeting on ways to confront water crises said that Iran has high capabilities in water and electricity engineering sectors compared to other Asian states.
“Iran is ready to help Asian and Asia-Pacific countries in implementation of infrastructural projects such as construction of dams, thermal and combined cycle power plants,“ Fattah underscored.
He termed water as the most important wealth in the world today, MNA wrote.
“Water can become a source of major development in the world and nations can trade water as a valuable commodity.“
One of the main topics of the gathering is the economic value of water, investments in water sector and soft loans for investment in this field, he said, adding that Iran is one of advocates of this policy.
Asian nations convened on Monday for a first ’water summit’ to plan action amid warnings of a dire situation with shrinking water resources and rising natural disasters.
The 49-nation conference in Beppu, a southern Japanese town famed for natural hot springs, comes amid growing concerns that climate change is aggravating water-related incidents in Asia and elsewhere, reported AFP.
Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito, known for his studies of water, said Asia was home to 60 percent of the world’s people but had only 40 percent of its water resources.
“The situation in the Asia-Pacific region does not allow us to be optimistic,“ said Naruhito, who is honorary president of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s advisory board on water and sanitation.
“As of 2004, there were seven hundred million people who had no access to safe drinking water and 1.9 billion who were without basic sanitation“ in Asia, he said.
“Another critical problem is the frequency and magnitude of natural disasters caused by water as 80 percent of all fatalities in these disasters occur in the Asia-Pacific region,“ Naruhito said.
“In this respect, our region is in the most serious situation in the world, especially in providing sanitation,“ he said.
Officials, including several heads of state, will hold two days of talks here on ways to step up cooperation on water-related issues that cross borders.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have signed an agreement worth 500 million euros to construct a combined cycle power plant in Heris, East Azerbaijan province.
Announcing this on Monday, deputy energy minister for power affairs stated that the construction of the power plant will be launched in the next Iranian year (starts March 21) and will be completed within two years, IRIB reported.
“Saudi Arabia’s Zenel Company and Iran’s Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution Company Tavanir have agreed to build the 1,200-megawatts power plant,“ Mohammad Ahmadian stated.
Referring to the construction of the power plant on the basis of a BOT (build, operate, transfer) deal, he announced that the electricity generated from the power plant will be sold to Iran.
Meanwhile, he added that Iran exports electricity to six neighboring countries including Armenia, Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan and Nakhichevan Republic.
Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan Republic also supply electricity to Iran, Ahmadian added.
According to him, Islamic Republic imported 177,000 MW/h but exported 238,000 MW/h of electricity during October 23-November 21.
“Some 14,500 MW/h have been exported to Pakistan, 58,000 MW/h to Turkey, 60,000 MW/h to Iraq, and 60,000 MW/h to Afghanistan.“
Ahmadian concluded that Iran imported 135,000 MW/h of electricity from Turkmenistan and 39,000 MW/h of electricity from Azerbaijan Republic.
Earlier, Iranian energy minister Parviz Fattah announced that Iran’s power grid will be linked to Europe via Russia or Turkey.
The minister recalled that the national power network is currently connected to electricity networks of countries which have land borders with Iran. “We are planning to have electricity exchange with countries with maritime frontiers. In line with this, negotiations are being conducted with the United Arab Emirates for laying undersea cables,“ Fattah underlined.

Fars province has three international airports which handle an average of about 400-500 flights per week.

Managing director of State Airports Company(SAP)has described the shortage of aircraft as one of the problems facing the aviation industry leaving airports operating at only half their capacities.
Speaking at the Seventh National Seminar of Top State Airports Company Managers in Shiraz, Fars province, Asghar Ketabachi put the capacity of national airports at 60 million passengers whereas they can only cater for 30 million.
The company aims to add 20-30 aircraft to its fleet by March 2008 to resolve the problem, he pointed out, reported the Persian daily ’Iran’.
Regarding the unilateral US sanctions against Iran, he said once it is lifted, supplying flight facilities and renovating the terminals of Imam Khomeini, Mehrabad, Mashhad, Shiraz, Isfahan and Tabriz airports would be the top priority.
Also, Fars governor general said that airports in the province play a significant role in domestic aviation industry.
Mohammadreza Rezazadeh explained that the province has three international airports which handle an average of about 400-500 flights per week. The majority of flights from Lar and Lamard airports are international, he added.
Speaking at the same gathering, director general of provincial airports said that over 40,000 passenger and cargo flights operate from Shiraz’s Shahid Dastgheib International Airport annually.
Majid Hejazi pointed out that in addition to transferring over 2.2 million passengers, it also renders services such as training, chartered and military flights.
Five airports in the province have been developed, equipped and renovated. His department has also placed high importance to promoting aviation services in quantity and quality.
He referred to expanding and equipping terminals for international flights, establishing a technical building, launching closed circuit cameras and optical fiber network as well as promoting the main infrastructures as some of the projects undertaken at Shiraz Airport in recent years.
The three-day seminar was organized by the Directorate Office of Fars Airports.

Petrochemical production in Iran grew by 21.4 percent during March-August compared to figures for the same period last year.
According to Barnameh (Plan) weekly, 16.65 million tons of petrochemical products was produced in the first year of the present government’s term in office and this amount reached 20.22 million tons in its second year which ended in August 2007.
Petrochemicals earnings stood at $2.9 billion in the first year and $3.9 billion in the second year, showing a 34 percent increase in comparison with the figures for their preceding years, PIN said.
It added that the value of petrochemicals sold domestically in 2005 topped 20 trillion rials ($2.1 billion) while the revenue exceeded 26.7 trillion rials ($2.8 billion) in 2006, indicating a 32 percent growth.
Iran earned $3.31 billion from petrochemical product exports in the eight months since March 21, 2007.
According to the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) of Iran, the country exported 5.72 million tons of products during the eight-month period.
The main export product was liquefied gas, with exports totaling 1.65 million tons. Methanol, ethylene, propylene, butadiene, dichloride ethylene, LAB, and PTA were the main basic chemical products exported during the period.

Regional Manager of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Saeed Ferdowsi said Sunday the United States ranked first and Iran 13th in carbon dioxide emission, citing a report released by UNEP during 2007-2008.
Speaking to reporters, he stated that according to the latest figures, China, Russia, India, Japan, Germany, Canada, Britain, South Korea, Italy, Mexico and South Africa ranked 2nd to 12th respectively on the list.
Poor countries have the least emission of CO2 on the earth while suffering its worst ecological consequences, Ferdowsi said.
When global warming leads to climatic changes in the Horn of Africa, it means that the agro products would not be produced and people would remain hungry, he pointed out.
Rich countries with 15 percent of the global population emit about half of the carbon dioxide, IRNA quoted him as saying.
To avert the consequences of dangerous climatic change, affluent countries should reduce emission of carbon dioxide by at least 30 percent before 2020, he said.
Climate change is a natural phenomenon and no single country can resist it, he said, adding that the only way to deal with it is through collective measures by all countries.
Greenhouse gases leave equal impacts on all countries around the globe irrespective of its source, he underlined.

Over six million Iranians will receive shares in the second phase of a plan to provide ’justice shares’ to those at the lower end of the economic ladder, managing director of Justice Share Brokerage Company announced.
Ali Sheikh told Fars news agency Monday that more than six million tribal and rural people have been identified for the purpose and an estimated 34,000 billion rials worth of justice shares will be distributed among them in the second phase starting late December.
He predicted that the number of people receiving the shares would increase.
About 30 percent shares of Iran Telecommunication Company, 7.1 percent stocks of Iran Khodro Industrial Group, 5.1 percent of equities Saipa Auto Manufacturing Company and eight percent of Chadormalu Mining and Industrial Company are to be offered as justice shares, the official noted.
Over eight percent of the shares of Golgohar Iron Ore Company, 44.5 percent of stocks of Rena Investment Company, 25 percent of equities of Mellat Bank, 25 percent of Post Bank as well as eight percent of shares of National Iranian Copper Industries Company will also be ceded as justice shares, he added.
Meanwhile, a member of Association of Justice Share Companies said retirees and government employees are entitled to receive justice shares in the third stage of the plan.
Mohammad Reza Rafei told IRNA Monday that 5.6 million retired people and their families will receive justice share in the third stage, adding that 400,000 government employees and their families are also included.
Government employees drawing salaries of less than two million rials per month are entitled to justice share, he elaborated. Retirees have to register their names for the plan until
December 6.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s economic team initiated the justice share scheme by privatizing state-owned organizations to help improve the quality of life of fixed-wage earners.