Iran Poised to Rise Tapping Gas from Joint Field

Iran is currently producing 630 mcm/d of gas from the joint offshore field, and is planning to bring gas production from the supergiant South Pars gas field to 680 mcm/d by launching new platforms

During a visit to the gas field, Meshkinfam said development projects in phases 13, 14 and 22-24 were ongoing by domestic companies.

He said there was a necessity to develop the field as soon as possible because it was joint with Qatar in Persian Gulf waters, adding POGC was seriously concerned with the completion of the phases under an integrated and systematic masterplan.

Recently, POGC installed two platforms in the gas field which belong to the Phase 22-24 project.

Once operational, the platforms will add a billion cubic feet per day of gas to the field’s output, he said.

The POGC CEO further added that gas production from Phase 14 would initiate soon, saying that Platform 14B was ready for production and would become operational as soon as it becomes linked with a pipeline to deliver its gas to onshore processing facilities. The platform will be operated with 500 bcm/d of production capacity.

Meshkinfam also added that three other platforms would be loaded to their offshore spots in South Pars by the end of the current Iranian calendar year to March 20.

By inaugurating phases 13, 14, and 22-24, the field’s production capacity will cross 680 mcm/d.

Last Tuesday, the third gas platform of phases 22 to 24 in South Pars Gas Field (SPGF) development plan was installed in offshore sector after loading and transferring it to the sea.

The 2,500-ton platform for the 23rd phase of South Pars field, as the second main platform of phases 22 to 24, was installed by HL-5000 vessel in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday.

“The platform for the phase 23 is the third gas platform in phases 22 to 24 of the field. Similar to the first phase’s two platforms, the 3rd platform was constructed by Iran Marine Industrial Company (SADRA) with the daily production capacity of 14.2 mcm,” Acting Deputy director of the development project of phases 22 to 24 of South Pars Gas Field, Ali Asghar Sadeghi, said.

He underlined that in addition to the strengthening of the technical capability of domestic producers and contractors, efforts made in this plan led to considerable increase in production capacity of gas from South Pars Gas Field.

In relevant remarks in early October, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that the offshore sections of 27 South Pars phases would be fully developed in the first half of 2020.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the 5th Oil and Power Congress in Tehran, Zangeneh said that South Pars Phase 11 development plan would be launched by March 20, 2020.

He further said that phase 14 of the field would come on stream by 2021, adding, “We have made great progress in South Pars gas field.”

“We had initially intended to exploit the technology of building pressure booster platforms in Phase 11 with Total in the project which unfortunately failed as Total and CNPCI pulled out of the project because of the imposition of sanctions. They did so in a friendly manner and we did not have disputes with them in this regard. The sanctions created an atmosphere in which they could not and did not want to stay in the contract. They thought they could not continue the work and left the project anyway.”