TEHRAN – The second train of the South Pars phase 14 refinery has gone operational, the acting managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC), which is in charge of developing South Pars gas field, announced.

Mohammad-Hossein Motejalli said that putting this train of refinery into operation, the refining capacity of phase 14 reached 28 million cubic meters (mcm) per day.

The first train of phase 14 refinery had gone operational in mid-March.

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.

South Pars gas field, which Iran shares with Qatar in the Persian Gulf water, is divided into 24 standard phases of development in the first stage. Most of the phases are fully operational at the moment.

The huge offshore field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which 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.

As announced last week by the deputy head of POGC’s Reservoir Operations Engineering Unit, the company is planning to drill 35 new wells to enhance and maintain gas production in the massive joint field.

Shobeir Nabavi said POGC has obtained the necessary permits from the Oil Ministry to dig 35 new wells in the field within the next two to three years.

Nabavi put the number of drilled and completed wells in this field at 341, of which 308 wells are currently operational.

He further noted that the main mission of his company is the development of the South Pars joint gas field, adding: “The amount of gas in this field on the Iranian side is estimated at 410 trillion cubic feet, and in the 20 years since the beginning of gas production from this field until today, 75.5 trillion cubic feet of gas have been produced in the field.”

According to Nabavi, the initial pressure of the South Pars gas reservoir in the Kangan and Dalan layers, which are located at a depth of 3,000 meters underground in the Persian Gulf, has decreased from about 5,200 PSI to 3,500 PSI during the 20 years of exploitation of this field.”

The POGC official stated that the daily gas production capacity from the massive offshore field is about 700 million cubic meters, and said, “With the commissioning of South Pars Phase 11, the daily gas production capacity of this field will increase to 730 million cubic meters per day.”

Nabavi called the installation of pressure-boosting compressors the most important method of maintaining gas production in the South Pars field, and said, “National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) plans to prioritize this issue in the coming years by installing pressure-boosting compressors and exploiting other gas sources to prevent production drop in the country.”

MA/MA