TEHRAN - The first train of the phase 14 refinery of Iran’s South Pars complex has been nearly completed and will be put into operation soon, the operator of the phase 14 development project, Mohammad Mehdi Tavasoli-Pour said.

According to the official, the first train of South Pars Refinery Phase 14 was scheduled to be completed by October 7, and as scheduled the refinery’s pipeline has been connected to the national gas network to receive sweet gas for final tests and assessments.”

He noted that all of the refinery’s utility units, including water, electricity, steam, air, instrumentation, and nitrogen services have been completed, and said: “Following the injection of sweet gas from the sixth national pipeline, the commissioning of these units and other process units of the refinery will be completed quickly.”

Referring to the holding of intensive managerial and executive meetings with contractors of different sections of the South Pars phase 14 refinery, Tavasoli-Pour said: "In these meetings, strategies to accelerate the completion of construction and commissioning operations, supply of goods and issues related to manpower are examined and necessary solutions are suggested and identified by the employer and communicated to the contractors for implementation.”

Phase 14 development is aimed at producing 56.6 million cubic meters per day of rich gas, 75,000 barrels/day of gas condensate and 400 tons/day of sulfur, and 1 million tons/year of liquefied petroleum gas and one million tons/year of ethane to be fed to petrochemical plants.

Back in October 2020, the operator of the South Pars Phase 14 development project said the project’s onshore refinery is scheduled to be fully operational by the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (September 2021).

The huge South Pars field, which Iran shares with Qatar in the Persian Gulf, covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran’s territorial waters. 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.

EF/MA