TEHRAN – The managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC), which is in charge of developing Iran’s giant South Pars gas field, said all the necessary measures have been taken for the preparation of the complex for sustained supply of gas during the winter, the POGC portal reported on Thursday.

Mentioning the completion of the annual overhaul program at all of the field’s platforms, Mohammad Meshkinfam said the field is ready to produce 700 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas during the winter of the current Iranian calendar year (starts on December 22).

“Pre-scheduled plans are being seriously pursued in both development and production sectors, and we are fully prepared to produce 700 million cubic meters per day of gas from 37 South Pars offshore platforms,” Meshkinfam said on the sidelines of a visit to the field’s development projects.

He further mentioned the completion of the first train of the South Pars Phase 14 Refinery as the top priority of his company at the moment, saying: “at the beginning of the current [Iranian calendar] year (March 21) there were short interruptions in the implementation of the company’s development projects, but with the double effort made by employers and contractors good work has been done and we are compensating for the delays.”

According to the official, the first train of the Phase 14 Refinery is expected to go operational by the end of the ninth Iranian calendar month of Azar (December 21).

The overhaul of South Pars gas platforms is carried out in the first half of the year due to the reduction in natural gas demand across the country; the overhaul planning is made in a way that there will be no interruptions due to breakdowns and other technical problems during the cold period of the year.

South Pars Gas Field, which Iran shares with Qatar in the Persian Gulf, is currently divided into 24 standard phases in the Iranian side and 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