LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The Rhum gas field in the NorthSea, co-owned by oil major BP and the Iranian Oil Companyand shut down to comply with Iranian sanctions in 2010, couldresume output in 6-9 months, a spokesman for BP said onThursday.
"Our view based on our experience is it will be at least 6-9months before we will be able to restart production," thespokesman said.
The British government gave the green light three weeks agoto restart the high pressure, high temperature gas field toavoid permanent damage to the facility.
A spokeswoman for Britain's energy ministry confirmed thatall outstanding documents allowing the restart had been issued.
The Rhum gas field was contributing around 4 percent to UKgas production before its shutdown.
EU sanctions against Iranian companies, including IOC, arestill in place, and the UK government will handle IOC's revenuefrom gas sales at Rhum by placing them in a frozen account.
The field started pumping gas in December 2005 and cost 350million pounds ($565.6 million) to build.
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