TEHRAN – Managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) said the first unit of South Pars gas field’s phase 14 refinery will be operational by the end of the seventh Iranian calendar month of Mehr (October 22), IRNA reported.

“Phase 14 is the latest and most prioritized phase among the South Pars field’s current projects, producing one billion cubic feet of gas from its first two platforms has been achieved, and two remaining platforms will be installed and inaugurated by the end of autumn,” Mohammad Meshkinfam said.

Mentioning the total physical progress in the first unit (unit 122) of the mentioned phase’s refinery, Meshkinfam noted that "This unit is the prerequisite for touching the refinery’s flair, and it is the first unit which goes operational by receiving gas from the phase platforms.”

The third platform of South Pars phase 14 was installed on its offshore spot on July 13, and according to Mohammad-Mehdi Tavasolipour, the operator of this phase, this platform as well as the one remaining will be put into operation by the end of autumn.

According to the official, $150 million has been saved in the projects for building and installing the four platforms of phase 14, and the total cost of the projects stood at $550 million.

The third platform of South Pars phase 14, namely platform 14B, will add 14.2 million cubic meters of gas per day to the total output of the giant gas field, according to Tavasolipour.

The first platform of phase 14 started operation in summer 2018 and the second platform namely 14C was shipped in September 2018 and the installation operation of this platform were completed in October 2018.

Construction of platform 14D, the last platform of phase 14, has a 92-percent progress for the moment and it is scheduled to be installed on its designated offshore spot by the end of the Iranian calendar month of Mehr, according to Tavasolipour.

South Pars gas field, which Iran shares with Qatar, 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. The field is divided into 24 standard phases.

In early June, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, in separate decrees, outlined the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2019-March 19, 2020) priorities of the ministry’s four major subsidiaries.

In the decree addressed to Masoud Karbasian, the head of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), completion and inauguration of the phases 13, 14, 22 and 24 of South Pars gas field was one of the main priorities for NIOC.

EF/MA