TEHRAN, Aug 10 (Shana) � Managing Director of Special Economic Zone Organization Mehdi Youssefi said on Tuesday that Iran will precede Qatar in extraction of gas from SouthPars.

Managing Director of South Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) Mehdi Youssefi told a press conference in Bushehr Province that in four months of this year (March 20-July 22), 6.5 million tons of gas condensates, worth $2.5 billion, were exported from the country's energy capital, Boushehr Province.

Youssefi said in the four months under study, 6.5 million tons of gas condensates, worth $2.5 billion, were exported from SouthPars, showing �54 percent growth compared to the figure in the same period the previous year.

He referred to 37 percent increase in export of non-oil products, worth $four billion, and said in the 11th government, phases 12, 15 and 16 of South Parswere put into operation in recent three years.

He said this year, phases 19, 20 and 21 and remaining parts of phases 17 and 18 will be on cycle and it is expected that once the phases are in cycle, by end of this year, Iran will exceed Qataris' gas extraction from SouthPars joint fields and will end its two decades old distance.

By SHANA