Iran has awarded some $17 billion worth of contracts to domestic companies for a major pressure-boosting project in South Pars, the world’s largest gas field that straddles the maritime border between Iran and Qatar in the Persian Gulf.

President Msoud Pezeshkian and senior Oil Ministry officials attended a ceremony on Saturday to award the contracts to four major Iranian energy companies, namely Petropars, Khatam Headquarters, OIEC and MAPNA.

The companies will work on projects in seven zones in South Pars to boost pressure of the massive gas reservoir.

Oil Ministry’s news service Shana said in a report that the project will cover the installation of 42 giant rigs weighing some 420,000 metric tons (mt).

Those rigs will include some 14 pressure-boosting platforms each hosting 120 resident workers and technicians to increase the pressure of the reservoir by 1 billion cubic feet (28.3 million cubic meters) per day, it said, adding that some 600 kilometers of underwater pipe-laying will be carried out in the project.

The report said that around 70% of the installations and equipment needed in the project will be sourced from domestic suppliers, including from shipyards along the Persian Gulf coast.

The project will create 17,000 direct jobs while another 50,000 will be employed on the wider supply chain, it said.

The project will increase gas recovery rate in South Pars from 54% to 75%, leading to some $780 billion worth of new revenues from the production of natural gas and condensates in the field, Shana said, citing a senior project contractor.

South Pars is responsible for 70% of Iran’s natural gas supply and 40% of the feedstock needed in the country’s gasoline production sector. It covers 40 offshore drilling rigs, hundreds of wells, and thousands of kilometers of underwater pipelines in 28 phases.

Gas production from the field reached a record of 716 million cubic meters per day last month.

However, experts have warned there could be a major drop in production in South Pars within the next few years because of the declining pressure in the field.

Oil Ministry authorities said in early February that pressure-boosting projects in South Pars will increase its lifespan by 20 years.

They said a first pressure-boosting project in South Pars is expected to come on line in 2030.

That comes as the onshore section of the project has already started with an initial investment of $300-400 million.