Tehran Times, quoting Managing Director of Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) Asadollah Salehi Foruz in an interview with ISNA, said that both phases would go fully on stream by February, 2005.

The two phases, he said, have total reserves of 50 million cubic meters of gas.

Salehi Foruz said that the final test on the first phase was made Friday and was optimistic the phase, once fully operational, will have positive results.

Iran ended negotiations with foreign companies over phase 11, he said, adding, "We have not provided any contracts yet."

Iranian energy experts had earlier planned to conclude contracts for 10 more phases (15-24) of the project, but so far contracts have only been made for the first 10 phases.

Iran has exploitation rights to 28 phases of South Pars gas field. The field is said to be the world's biggest.

Qatar, the only other owner of South Pars, started operations on the field 20 years earlier than Iran.

POGC has not announced the result of a tender it announced for the 15th and 16th phases of the project.

Companies from Iran, France, Britain, Japan and South Korea participated in the tender held in 2003.

Japanese companies along with the Norwegian giant Statoil will start operating three phases of the project (6,7 and 8). These three are supposed to provide sour gas for the Aghajari oilfield.

The French oil major Total apparently won the tender for phase 11, but there is still vagueness about what would happen to the next phases because of marketing problems.