For the first time in the country, a private Iranian company has set up a gas compressor station for collecting flare gases of Parsi Oilfield near Ahvaz in the southern Khuzestan Province, the National Iranian Oil Company’s deputy for production said.
“Tamkar Gas Equipment Company, which has considerable experience in the construction of high-pressure gas compressors and compressed natural gas stations, launched on Saturday a gas compressor station with a production capacity of 212,000 cubic meters of natural gas per day,” Mohsen Paknejad was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
Paknejad added that the station collects low-pressure flare gases of Parsi Oilfield and curb the burning of between 85,000 and 212,000 cubic meters of flare gas a day. Following the compression of flare gas, it will be returned to NIOC’s facilities to be injected into Karanj Oilfield in the province.
According to the official, NIOC will earn revenues from the sale of associated petroleum gas without paying fees to Tamkar.
Flaring is the burning of natural gas that cannot be processed or sold. The flaring of APG is an important safety measure at many oil and gas production sites, as it prevents industrial plant equipment from over-pressuring and exploding.
However, the burning of high levels of APG is a major source of air pollution.
Paknejad noted that in line with the year of “Support for Iranian Products”, which was named by the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Tamkar has managed to rely on domestic potentials to manufacture equipment, in addition to designing, installing and launching the station.
“In addition to shutting down the flare torches and preventing the wastage of national resources, such projects will help local firms implement similar plans,” he said.
Tamkar’s 2nd Project
Paknejad said Tamkar also broke ground for its second such project in Maroon Oilfield, about 40 kilometers southeast of Ahvaz, on Saturday, which is planned to go on stream within a year.
"The new project will be able to curb the emission of 623,000 cubic meters of flare gas per day," he said.
According to a World Bank report, a great deal of gas flares at oil production sites around the world burn approximately 140 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually, causing more than 300 million tons of carbon dioxide to be emitted into the atmosphere.
If this amount of gas is used for power generation, it can provide about 750 billion kilowatts per hour of electricity, or more than the African continent’s current annual electricity consumption.
Around 17 billion cubic meters of gas are burned off in Iran annually, which means a $4-6 billion loss for the country, according to published reports.
