Azernews.Az

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi has said that the country has overcome the tough economic sanctions and the oil industry is heading toward development, Trend news agency reported, referring to IRIB News.

Many development projects are underway and it is projected that $150 billion will be invested in the oil sector, he added.

By March 2015, natural gas production will reach 1.4 billion cubic meters from 600 million cubic meters, Qasemi said.

At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran's oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.

U.S. sanctions came into force on June 28, while the EU bans on Iranian oil imports began on July 1. In October the EU approved another major package of economic sanctions on Iran.

In July, Qasemi said that although the West has imposed sanctions on Iran's oil sector with the goal of toppling the Islamic establishment, the country's oil exports will never be halted because oil consuming countries need Iranian crude.

Qasemi said in April that at least $30 billion will be invested in the domestic oil industry this year.

He added that a major portion of the sum will be allocated to the South Pars gas field project.

The South Pars gas field is shared by Iran and Qatar. The Iranian share which is divided into 29 phases has about 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, or about eight per cent of the total world reserves and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas resources.

Qasemi also said that the global economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic would not hinder the country's oil industry development.

The oil ministry is committed to accelerating the implementation of its development plans backed by the financial system and through government bonds, he said.

Iran sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia.