Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Iran
Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Natural Gas Platform Sinks

Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Natural Gas Platform Sinks

Juan Cole 02/04/2013

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

A $40 million platform unit in the Persian Gulf designed to increase Iran’s natural gas production sank last week. It was built with Iranian government funding via a company belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. On this evidence, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina can stop staying up every night worrying that the IRGC is coming for us.

There is an enormous gas field running under Qatar over to southwestern Iran. Qatar’s piece of it amounts to 890 trillion cubic feet, some 13% of the world’s total proven reserves. Iran’s South Pars field has 450 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas reserves ( Iran’s total estimated gas reserves are over 1000 trillion cubic feet, second only to Russia in the world). Iran had planned to double its natural gas production by this summer, but the platform sinking will set it back many months.

Here is video of the platform sinking:

When Iran does double its natural gas production, if it exports it, that could put further pressure on more expensive coal plants to close and for plans for new ones to be abandoned by investors. Since natural gas burns much cleaner than coal, this would be a gain for reducing carbon emissions. On the other hand, cheap natural gas delays the moment when solar and wind are altogether less expensive than hydrocarbons (not counting externalities like the damage the latter do through global warming), so increased gas production is a mixed picture. Natural gas produced through hydraulic fracturing may be as bad as coal because of substantial releases of methane, a very toxic greenhouse gas.

Filed Under: Iran

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Israel's Netanyahu banks on TACO Trump as he Launches War on Iran to disrupt Negotiations
  • Iran's Hypersonic Missiles Hit Israeli Refinery, Military Sites, as Israel does the same to Tehran
  • A Pariah State? Western Nations Sanction Israeli Cabinet Members
  • Why did Israel defy Trump – and risk a major War – by striking Iran now? And what happens next?
  • Will Iran reply to Israeli Attacks with "War of Attrition?" Will its Nuclear Red Line Hold?

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved