Iran Installs Giant Rig to Boast Self-Sufficiency under US Sanctions

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh announced that the country successfully completed installing a super-size drilling rig at South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf, the largest in the world, without any foreign company involved after Tehran made its industries self-sufficient to defy the US unilateral sanctions.

Zanganeh announced on Saturday that the 2,400-ton platform, dubbed SPD-14B, had been mounted earlier in the day by Iranian crew and experts in Persian Gulf waters off the Southern Iranian coast.

The oil minister said the installation would accelerate the end of development and expansion operations at the offshore section of the phase 14 of South Pars gas field.

The rig is one of the two main platforms and a third of a total of four rigs planned for the entire phase 14, a project which is expected to increase Iran’s daily gas output by two billion cubic feet (over 56 million cubic meters) per day.

The installation of the giant structure finished just a month after it was loaded onto a ship in the port city of Bandar Abbas.

Once fully hooked up to the system through subsea pipelines, the 14B would feed 500 million cubic feet (14.1 million cubic meters) per day of gas to Iran’s national grid.

Iran has already installed 14A and 14C platform as part of the development plan at South Pars phase 14.

Zanganeh said eight similar drilling rigs made by Iranian companies would be installed in other projects until the end of the current Iranian calendar year in March, bringing Iran’s output from its offshore gas fields to 27 billion cubic feet (nearly 800 million cubic meters) per day.

Iran has sought to increase its daily production at oil and gas fields despite sanctions imposed by the United States which restricts Tehran’s ability for export.

Zanganeh had said earlier this year that Iran’s gas production at South Pars had already exceeded 21.5 billion feet (610 million cubic meters) per day, adding that Iran’s share of daily production at the field had dwarfed that of Qatar.

He also said last week that Tehran was negotiating with China to sort out the country’s role in South Pars phase 11, a project where the China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has been accused of foot-dragging.

The CNPC has held an 80 percent stake in the project since France’s Total withdrew last summer under US pressure.

Back in mid-December, Head of Exploration at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Seyed Saleh Hendi said US’ unilateral sanctions against Tehran have led Iran to self-sufficiency in producing equipment for oil and gas production.

In 2014, Managing Director of the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) Ali Akbar Safayee announced that the country has attained self-sufficiency in the construction of offshore oil platforms despite the sanctions imposed by the West.