The collaboration between South Pars Gas Complex in Bushehr Province and the Persian Gulf Star Refinery in Hormozgan Province is of paramount importance, as they help produce 45% of Iran’s daily gasoline output, managing director of the major gas complex said.
“SPGC produced 600,000 barrels of gas condensates per day in 2022, of which 50% or 300,000 barrels were sent to PGSR as feedstock,” Ahmad Bahoush was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
The refinery, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, uses the feedstock to convert it to value-added products, including jet fuel, gasoline and diesel, he added.
The official said a 400-km pipeline transfers close to 300,000 barrels of condensates from Asalouyeh in Bushehr to Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan daily to help produce 42 million liters of gasoline and 14 million liters of diesel per day.
The giant refining complex accounts for 45% of the total gasoline output in Iran, which stands at 100 million liters per day.
The rest of the condensates (300,000 barrels) produced in South Pars Gas Complex is supplied to Nouri Petrochemical Complex in the southern Bushehr Province as feedstock to be converted to a wide range of petrochemical goods.
He noted that close to 183 billion cubic meters of natural gas, 4.5 million tons of ethane, 1.7 million tons of butane and 2.7 million tons of propane were also processed in the complex in 2022.
SPGC accounts for 73% and 92% of total natural gas and gas condensate output respectively in Iran.
"The share of fossil fuel in Iran's energy basket is 74%, of which 50% are produced by SPGC,” he said.
The official noted that South Pars accounts for 96% of liquefied petroleum gas, 100% of ethane and 55% of sulfur produced in Iran.
Data pertaining to 2018 show a rise in output of a variety of byproducts, namely ethane (42%), LPG (35%) and sulfur (35%), compared to the year before.
South Pars, the world's largest gas field shared by Iran and Qatar, was developed in 24 phases, of which 22 phases are operational while Phase 14 is underway and Phase 11 has not been developed yet.
Natural Gas Deposits
The huge gas field 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.
Bahoush noted that $78 billion have been invested to develop SP since 2002 when the field’s daily output was 32 million cubic meters and accounted for less than 10% of Iran’s gas requirements.
Gas condensate is a low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids present as gaseous components in unprocessed natural gas.
“The development project to implement the fourth phase of PGSR will start soon. The plan, which will be fully funded by the holding company, will become operational in 2024,” he said.
“The new phase is expected to help raise PGSR’s current gasoline output at 360,000 barrels per day to 480,000 barrels.”
The official noted that daily gasoline consumption has surpassed 100 million liters per day and the uptrend is continuing, stressing that not raising the current production capacity by funding new initiatives will compel Iran to import the fuel in the foreseeable future.
Each PGSR phase uses about 120,000 barrels per day of gas condensate, supplied from the giant South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf.
“With the launch of the fourth phase, the refinery will consume about 500,000 bpd of the fuel, as a strategic move to use the field's gas domestically instead of exporting it,” Bahoush said.
Under pressure from Iran’s Department of Environment, shareholders and oil companies, including PGSR, are investing in environmental preservation plans to “stay green”.
Green Spaces
The company has been introduced by the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company as a top refiner that has made efforts to help preserve the environment, including expanding green spaces, using wastewater, curbing pollutants and improving energy management.
According to environmental laws, industries and production units should allocate 10% of their total area to green space.
PGSR has 40 hectares of green space.
The plant has increased output of its wastewater treatment unit to 275,000 liters per hour to use reclaimed wastewater instead of the depleting groundwater resources.
PGSR is equipped with two sulfur recovery units, two purification units with sour water strippers (SWS) and two gas purification units with amine treating units.
SWS is one of the first stages in the wastewater treatment process in refineries. Water streams from throughout a refinery are typically sent to a stripper, which is designed to remove both H2S and ammonia from the water.
To reduce air pollutants, the huge refinery uses natural gas instead of liquid fuels like mazut as feedstock in furnaces and boilers. It has also installed oxygen analyzers on furnaces and boilers to control the combustion process and reduce gas consumption.
