TEHRAN – National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has awarded the development project of the phase 14 of South Pars gas field (in the Persian Gulf) to the Iranian company Petropars Operation and Management Company (POMC), IRNA reported.

According to POMC Managing Director Hamid-Reza Masoudi, the project includes monitoring pre-launching operations, executing the launching operations, start-up, exploitation, performance guarantee tests and first production.

The contract comes amid U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil and gas industry which has affected the government’s ability to engage with major international companies to develop its energy sector.

The POMC has carried out similar projects in phase 12 and phase 19 of South Pars. Its assignment to work in phase 14 comes less than a month after the third platform of this phase was installed on its designated offshore spot.

The 2,450-ton structure is set to add 14.2 million cubic meters of gas per day to the total output of the giant gas field.

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 seventh Iranian calendar month of Mehr (October 22).

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