Iran Contains Fire on South Pars Gas Platform, Rescues 17 Workers

A fire that broke out Tuesday on a gas platform in Iran's South Pars field has been extinguished, and all 17 workers who jumped into the sea to escape the blaze have been accounted for, according to Iranian officials cited by the semi-official Fars news agency and reported by Al Jazeera.

What happened on the platform?

The Pars Oil and Gas Company said the fire ignited on a platform in Phase 14 of South Pars and was "extinguished immediately," Fars reported, as cited by Al Jazeera. During the incident, 17 workers jumped into the sea to save themselves. Kourosh Dehghan, Bushehr Province's director general of crisis management, told Fars that rescue operations for those workers were underway, adding that "further details regarding the scale of the incident and the condition of the workers will be announced later."

Are the workers safe?

Yes. Bushehr's crisis management office later said all 17 workers were in good condition after boarding lifeboats and rescue craft. Three heavy rescue vessels were dispatched to the platform to bring the workers back to shore, according to the office's account relayed by Fars and reported by Al Jazeera. No injuries or fatalities were described in the available reporting.

"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.

What caused the fire?

The cause has not been determined. Officials are considering a gas leak or an operational mishap as possible explanations, Fars said. No further detail on the investigation's timeline or findings has been released in the reporting reviewed for this story.

How much gas production was affected?

Limited impact at the field-wide level. The Phase 14 platform where the fire occurred accounts for 14.5 million cubic metres of South Pars's total daily production, which exceeds 700 million cubic metres of gas, Fars reported. That means the affected platform represents roughly 2 percent of the field's daily output, based on the figures Fars provided. The report did not say whether the Phase 14 platform's output was halted, reduced, or unaffected following the fire.

What is South Pars, and why does it matter?

South Pars is described by Al Jazeera as the world's largest offshore natural gas field. Iran shares the reservoir with Qatar, a major gas exporter, which calls its portion of the field the North Dome. The shared reservoir contains an estimated 1,800 trillion cubic feet, or roughly 51 trillion cubic metres, of usable gas — a volume Al Jazeera says is enough to supply the world's gas needs for 13 years. The field sits in the Gulf near the southern Iranian town of Kangan, where Phase 12 facilities are pictured in Al Jazeera's report.

South Pars has drawn international attention for reasons beyond its physical capacity. The field underpins both Iran's domestic energy supply and Qatar's export economy, and incidents on either side of the shared border are closely watched by regional energy markets given the scale of reserves involved.

Has anything like this happened before at the field?

The reporting reviewed for this story does not address prior incidents at South Pars or at Phase 14 specifically. Al Jazeera's coverage is limited to Tuesday's fire, the rescue of the 17 workers, and the production-share figures tied to the affected platform. Readers seeking a record of safety incidents at the field would need to consult Pars Oil and Gas Company statements or Iranian regulatory disclosures directly, neither of which were part of the sourcing for this account.

What happens next?

Al Jazeera's report, sourced through Fars, says further details on the scale of the incident and the condition of the workers would be announced later by Bushehr's crisis management office. No timeline for a formal cause determination was given. The Pars Oil and Gas Company has not released additional public statements beyond confirming the fire was extinguished, according to the reporting available.

The episode adds to a string of recent stories about Iran's energy and regional posture that Al Jazeera has tracked, including pieces on diplomatic momentum tied to Iran and on Qatar-US engagement — both linked from the original Al Jazeera report as related coverage.