TEHRAN - Loading operations of the platform for the South Pars gas field phase 21 with the capacity of producing one billion cubic feet (around 25 million cubic meters) of gas per day will be started next week, the Shana news agency reported on Sunday.

The huge offshore field, shared with Qatar, covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which, called South Pars, are in Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, called North Dome, are situated in Qatar’s territorial waters.
The field is estimated to contain a significant amount of natural gas, accounting for about eight percent of the world’s reserves, and approximately 18 billion barrels of condensate.
South Pars is divided into 24 standard phases, of which phases 1-10, 12, 15 and 16 are fully operational. Each standard phase is projected to produce 50 mcm of gas per day. Phases 17 and 18 as well as 19 are operating at half capacity. 

Phases 20 and 21 are projected to produce 50 million cubic meters of sweet gas per day for home consumption and will recover one million tons of Ethane per annum for petrochemical industry consumption. They will also recover 1.050 million tons of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) per year, produce 75,000 barrels of gas condensate and recover 400 tons of sulfur per day for exports.

The managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company, Ali Akbar Shabanpour, has said that South Pars produced 130 billion cubic meters of gas in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended in March 2016, around half of Iran’s total gas output. 

MA