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Gas output from South Pars field to normalize by March

15 November 2017 13:35 (UTC+04:00)
Gas output from South Pars field to normalize by March

By Kamila Aliyeva

The production of natural gas from the Iranian giant South Pars field is expected to normalize by the end of the current fiscal year in March, following a number of overhauls at the field's platforms and refineries.

Iran's output from the joint field with Qatar will reach 570.5 million cubic meters per day by the year-end.

This was stated by deputy managing director of Pars Oil & Gas Co. (POGC) for operations and logistics Yahia Rashidi, POGC's website reported on November 14.

Iran reached that production level in April upon the launch of five South Pars phases as part of inaugurating $20 billion worth of energy projects.

At the time, Iran could catch up Qatar's production rate from the field for the first time in more than a decade due to additional output from the new offshore phases.

Maintenance operations at South Pars facilities in recent month have lowered gas supplies. Reportedly, at least eight South Pars refineries were taken offline for maintenance operations in the last few months while repair works at phases 9 and 10 were underway at least by the end of September.

Rashidi noted that supplies from South Pars account for nearly two-thirds of Iran's total gas production. He added that 14 offshore platforms have come into operation under the administration of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani since 2013.

Iran hopes to increase gas output up to 1.1 billion cubic meters per day in four years and eyes higher production from the field's oil layer.

South Pars, located in southern region, is divided into 24 development phases, and contains 40 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. It covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers are in Qatar's territorial waters. Iran aims to complete all South Pars phases by March 2019.

Earlier, French giant Total agreed to invest about $5 billion in an offshore South Pars phase 11 jointly with Chinese and Iranian partners, becoming the first Western energy investment in Iran since international sanctions were lifted following the JCPOA.

Total is familiar with the South Pars field, as the company had experience there before sanctions made work in Iran impossible for big international companies.

The Phases 11 development project of the South Pars field is set to produce 56 mcmd of soar gas.

Within a 20-year period, 335 billion cubic meters of soar gas will be extracted from the phase. Once processed, 315 billion cubic meters of sweet gas, 290 million cubic meters of gas condensate, 2 million tons of sulfur, 14 million tons of liquefied petroleum gas and 12 million tons of ethane will be produced.

Iran aims to attract more international companies to invest in South Pars alongside a spate of oilfield projects, as its petroleum industry requires $200 billion of investments.

The country has vast energy resources — the world’s largest proven natural gas reserves and the second-largest trove of oil in the Persian Gulf, according to BP.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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