The director of the Pars Oil and Gas Company, Ali Vakili, told state television that the first portion of the bonds -- $500 million -- will be offered on Aug. 21 and will be followed by a second offering of the same amount on Sept. 11. The total $3 billion will be offered over six stages, and the bonds will carry an interest rate of 16 percent, Vakili said.
Saderat Bank, one of several Iranian lenders subject to United Nations sanctions, will raise $1 billion in the first two tranches, Vakili said.
In addition to the domestic bonds, Vakili said the government also plans to offer another $3 billion in foreign currency to help fund the development of the South Pars field.
Tehran has already offered €1 billion ($1.3 billion) in bonds this year to raise funding for the project.
Iran sits atop the world's second largest proven reserves of gas and is the second largest OPEC oil producer, though most of its production is used domestically.
Years of sanctions, augmented this summer by a fourth round of measures by the UN Security Council, have deterred significant investment by international companies with deep pockets and technical expertise.
That has forced Iran to rely either on local firms or countries like Russia and China, which are not as swayed by US pressure, to develop its oil and gas sector and boost output.
But there have been signs that Iranian companies are struggling to meet the full sweep of the sector's development needs. Last month, the engineering arm of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, which boasts a powerful presence in the country's economy, partially withdrew from developing South Pars.
Development of the South Pars field, which is shared by Iran and Qatar and holds an estimated 50.97 trillion cubic meters (1,800 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas, has been repeatedly delayed over the past few years because of reluctance by Western firms to fully commit to the project over sanctions concerns.
