-Would you please introduce the ILC PROJECT and explain how has it started?
-The ILC PROJECT has the aim of liquefying natural gas in order to export 2  billion cubic feet out of 3 billion cubic feet produced sour gas per day from south pars phase12.  Regarding to liquefaction, we should mention that the natural gas has an expensive and considerable transportation cost comparing with the total production cost.
By liquefying the gas volume is reduced up to 600 times, which means that the transportation cost will tremendously lower.
Since the transportation plays a key role in the price of gas, it results in a considerable additional cost for it.
Formerly, there were not any criteria for considering the transportation value for the international gas price; therefore the price in various parts of the world was quite different.
Anyhow, liquefaction does not seem to be reasonable for distances between the source and destination is less than 2000 miles, but when the distance exceeds 2000 miles it is more economic the use of liquefaction rather than investing on pipelines.
That is why, ILC have decided to produce for targeting markets in the distance of more than 2000 miles away, like Far East countries such as the eastern coast of China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, European or American countries.
Within the last years, 4 LNG projects had been defined in IRAN. One of them has already started by IRAN LNG COMPANY. According to the predicted schedule in Nov 2006 the REVISED FEED was activated and its result was announced at the middle of Sep 2007. In Feb 2007 the LNG, LPG tanks contracts was signed, and engineering activities were started after the opening of LC.
At present, the project is coming to the end of the engineering phase, we have also purchased the 9% Nickel plates for the tanks, and we hope to receive the first cargo in March 2008. The mobilization of workshop is also in its last phase of the process, and the construction of the TANKS has commenced in the middle of Feb 2008. And we hope it will be finished by on schedule. Works for this package are under process with no delay. Also the contract for the jetties & harbor has been signed at the same date. The engineering works for this package are going to be finalized by the EPC contractor. The mobilization of the workshop is already finished and the construction execution has a physical progress of about 23%.
We have also signed another contract in 2007 for the project management and contractor which the personnel have been present in ILC offices.
In Sep 2007 the e-LNG package contract, which includes power plant,  compressors and water utilities, was signed and some of the project engineering activities are started, and in a close future the equipment purchase orders will be commenced, and we hope that the mobilization will be completed by Aug 2008.
In Nov 2007 the Treating Units contract was signed, which includes acid gas removal,  dehydration, mercury removal, sweetening and sulphur recovery  was signed and some of the project engineering activities are started and in a close future the equipment purchase orders will be commenced, and we hope that the mobilization will be completed by Aug 2008.
In Jan 2008 the utility & offsite contract was signed and since the size of engineering activities in this project is less than the other two projects, we hope it will be activated by April 2008. The last two packages are liquefaction of natural gas and automation.
About liquefaction contract, we are having the final negotiations with the contractors and for preventing any fault and making all the items clear, the negotiations will continue which it may cause a delay for signing the contract until March 15th 2008 and since the automation contract is not on the top of our priorities we will sign it by May 2008.
 
-What is the contractor you will sign the liquefaction contract with?
-By now, 3 companies are remaining in the bidding process and the final winner is going to be announced by 15th of March.
 
-Are you satisfied with the project progress?
- Considering the current circumstances the ILC team progress is satisfactory and I hope it will get better day after day.
 
-After signing the last contract what would the next step be?
-All contracts will start their execution which would be one of the most challenging issues in the project investment. If we will not receive enough financial support at this stage it will have negative impact on the progress, and if they provide it; the project will go ahead according to the schedule.
 
-What is your opinion about the Oil Ministry support?
-The Oil Ministry has serious incentives to perform the project, because this project has the potential to increase oil incomes for Iran, but the limitations are mostly the lack of the resources they have available.
 
-What do you think the benefits would be by finishing this project?
-If we go ahead according to the schedule we would be one of the five top industries ( in rate of return) in the world and the benefits would be eye-catching.

-What is the reaction of countries like Qatar who are farther ahead in this industry?
-Qatar is the only one country which is capable of producing 70 million tons of LNG at present. Of course this will last until Iran enters the markets and since the other countries have the maximum potential for producing 30 million tons of LNG per year, so Iran would be a serious rival for Qatar with an estimated potential for producing 70 million tons of LNG per year, which is a big portion in the international markets. If the international market demands continue the current increasing rate of growth, any other alternative can not cover this volume of market demands.
  
-How have the sanctions affected the project so far?
-Thanks to GOD, the sanctions have had no serious and intolerable pressures on the project.
 
-Have you already had any negotiations with the target markets?
-We have started negotiations with some countries and we predict European and even Asian countries as our main customers. We have to note that LNG negotiations demand long talks which result in hundreds-pages contracts.
 
-What is the biggest obstacle in the project?
-The cash, which we hope by receiving from the government and our financiers will solve problem and also with the participation of foreign investors the project will be finished according to the schedule.