A loading pier for liquefied petroleum gas export was inaugurated by President Hassan Rouhani via videoconference on Monday in the Pars Kangan (Tombak Port) region of Pars Special Energy Economic Zone, 50 kilometers north of the port of Asalouyeh in Bushehr Province, the project manager said.
“An undertaking of Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters, an Iranian engineering company affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the project was completed in seven years over a 360-hectare plot in the form of an EPC [engineering, procurement and construction] contract worth $400 million,” the Oil Ministry’s news portal quoted Payam Motamed as saying.
“The facility includes two LPG loading arms, each of which can berth ships with a capacity of 50,000 tons. It is also equipped with a modern arm to load sulfur for vessels with capacities ranging from 5 to 50,000 tons.”
Motamed added that the pier will be used to export LPG and sulfur produced in five phases (13, 19, 22, 23 and 24) of the giant South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf.
The official said the construction of two sulfur warehouses and a refining unit to help process natural gas from the South Pars phases 22 to 24 will be completed in 2022.
Tombak, with a depth of 35 meters, is the deepest port in the country and the Persian Gulf.
LPG is made up of butane, propane, or a mixture of both gases. It is the second-best eco-friendly fuel after natural gas and delivered via trunk lines.
Compared to natural gas, diesel and mazut, LPG has more than double the energy content at 93 megajoule per cubic meters, so it is much more efficient.
Referring to LPG output, Motamed noted that Iran produces at least 12 million tons of LPG per year, 60% of which are exported.
The United States’ economic siege “is not a major threat” to Iran's share in the global LPG market, he said, adding that the lifting of sanctions would help expand export levels.
Sanctions have not gravely affected Iran’s exports of oil derivatives, primarily LPG used as cooking gas and petrochemical feed.
"LPG is sold to private companies in Asia, including China, Pakistan, Iraq and Turkey.”
According to Hassan Montazer-Torbati, the head of National Iranian Gas Company, LPG shipments, the bulk of which goes to the Far East, are delivered regularly.
SP Phase 14
President Rouhani also inaugurated SP Phase 14 offshore platforms (14A and 14B as main platforms and 14C and 14D as satellite ones) on Monday.
“Local engineers carried out the designing and construction of four offshore decks, and domestic companies supplied 80% of the equipment required to build the huge structure,” Mohammad Mehdi Tavassolipour, the project manager said.
According to the official, the development of Phase 14 cost $2.5 billion and the project was funded and carried out by a consortium of local firms, including the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran, Mapna Group – Iran's top engineering and energy firm, Machine Sazi Arak Company, the National Iranian Drilling Company, Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company and Iran Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Company.
Phase 14 is expected to produce 56 million cubic meters of gas per day, 400 tons of sulfur, 2,800 tons of propane, 75,000 barrels of condensates and 2,550 tons of petrochemical feedstock.
It will help meet domestic demand and supply feedstock to petrochemical units in the Pars Special Energy Economic Zone in the southern Bushehr Province.
Tavassolipour announced that Phase 14 onshore refinery will go on stream in fall.
“Units, including steam boilers and gas condensates storage facilities, have become operational and other sections, namely instrument air unit and gas sweetening trains, are near completion,” he said.
“The construction of onshore facilities has made 95% progress. The refining unit is equipped with six water boilers with avcombined capacity of 160 tons of steam per hour.
Because the new refinery is still under construction, sour gas from the phase is supplied to refineries in phases 12 and 19.
SP Gas Field, which Iran shares with Qatar, covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which (South Pars) are in Iran’s territorial waters and the rest (North Dome) is in Qatari waters. It is estimated to contain large deposits of natural gas, accounting for 8% of the world’s known reserves and approximately 18 billion barrels of condensates.
SP has 24 phases, all of which, except Phase 11, are operational. The mega project includes 39 offshore platforms, 373 wells and 3,000 kilometers of subsea pipelines.
