The volume of gas reserves in the Shourijeh reservoir in the northeastern Khorasan Razavi Province increased by 10% in the first eight months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Nov. 21) compared with the same period of last year, the managing director of Shahid Hasheminejad Gas Refining Company said.
Referring to the role of Shourijeh storage facility in stabilizing natural gas production in the winter, Yahya Feizi added that during this period, 1.825 billion cubic meters of gas were stored in the Shourijeh reservoir.
“The withdrawal from the reservoir began on Nov. 1 for ensuring the stability of production in the winter; an average of 15 million cubic meters of gas are taken from the reservoir on a daily basis,” he added.
To supply gas in the north and northeast parts in the cold seasons when consumption rises considerably and production declines in the Mozdouran reservoir, a development project has been devised to increase the capacity of Shourijeh facility, which is the main feedstock supplier of Khangiran Refinery in Sarakhs County, Khorasan Razavi Province.
Development programs are underway to increase the capacity of the facility from the current 2.25 billion cubic meters to 4.5 bcm.
To ensure stable natural gas supply, Iran Gas Engineering and Development Company, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Gas Company, is also developing six more gas storage facilities across the country.
The projects include Sarajeh reservoir near the city of Qom, Kashan salt dome in Isfahan Province, Varamin Yortesha water storage facility near Tehran, Bankol gas field in Ilam Province, Mokhtari gas field in Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad Province and Qezeltappeh gas field in Golestan Province.
Upon completion over the next three years, NIGC’s gas storage capacity will reach 250 million cubic meters, accounting for 25% of Iran’s daily output.
MAPNA engineering group is expected to complete the project within three years.
The project includes drilling 28 production/injection wells, construction of wellhead facilities and pipelines, building a gas collection and distribution center, construction of gas injection facilities with a capacity of 20 million cubic meters per day and building refinery facilities for gas processing with a capacity of 10 mcm per day.
The engineering group is involved in a range of projects, including oil and gas field development, onshore and offshore drilling services, construction of downstream processing units, auxiliary facilities, utility and storage tanks, as well as the design and manufacture of equipment such as turbo-compressors for pipelines, refineries and processing units.
IGEDC is also conducting feasibility studies to build new reservoirs in other areas, namely Babaqir gas field in Ilam Province, Viznehar and Haloush gas fields in Lorestan Province, Nader hydrocarbon reservoir in Bushehr Province and Sarkhoun gas field in Hormozgan Province.
Most oil reservoirs are not suitable for storing gas and this explains why studies on reserves whose geological formations are made up of salt and water, is on the IGEDC agenda. The construction of new gas reservoirs is a priority for the Oil Ministry.
Iran plans to increase its gas output capacity to meet the increasing demand of all sectors.
In case all the requirements of the plans are provided, in the next 10 years, daily gas output will reach 1.5 billion cubic meters from the current 1 bcm.
Iran ranks second after Russia, with about 34 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves.
