Fire contained on platform in Iran’s South Pars gas field

Iranian authorities have contained a fire that broke out on a platform in South Pars gas field, the world's largest offshore natural gas field.

The Pars Oil and Gas Company said the fire broke out on Tuesday on a gas platform in Phase 14 of the South Pars field and was extinguished immediately, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported.

"During the incident, 17 workers jumped into the sea to save their lives; rescue operations for them are currently underway," Kourosh Dehghan, Bushehr Province's director general of crisis management, told Fars.

"Further details regarding the scale of the incident and the condition of the workers will be announced later," Dehghan added.

Bushehr's crisis management office later said all 17 workers were in good condition after boarding lifeboats and rescue craft, and that three heavy rescue vessels had been sent to the platform to bring them back.

Officials are considering a gas leak or an operational mishap as possible causes for the fire, Fars said.

The news agency added that the platform accounts for only 14.5 million cubic metres of South Pars's total daily production of more than 700 million cubic metres of gas.

Iran shares the reservoir with major gas exporter Qatar, which calls its portion the North Dome.

The reservoir contains an estimated 1,800 trillion cubic feet (51 trillion cubic metres) of usable gas, enough to supply the world's needs for 13 years.