In the framework of policy and commitment to help safeguard the environment, 95% of associated petroleum gas is collected from Ahvaz and Ramin Oil Fields in Khuzestan Province on a daily basis, the managing director of Karoun Oil and Gas Production Company said.
“The project cost of $1 billion,” the Persian economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad Sunday quoted Gholamreza Mofidi as saying.
The project has helped collect at least 900,000 cubic meters of flare gas, he added. KOGPC has also set up a gas compressor station for collecting flare gas from Bangestan reservoirs in Ahvaz Oil Field.
Collecting APG from oil and gas fields is a priority of the Oil Ministry to protect the environment, prevent loss of national wealth and create jobs.
Flaring is the burning of natural gas that cannot be processed or sold. Collection 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.
Moreover, with the help of mobile oil treaters (MOTs), the company has prevented 32,000 barrels of oil from being burnt during extraction phases over the past 12 months.
"The company, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, has extracted close to 1.4 million barrels of oil, of which 32,000 barrels would have been wasted if it were not for the MOTs on well heads."
Modern equipment like MOTs helped safeguard the ecosystem by curtailing the emission of 15,000 tons of carbon dioxide over the 12-month period. MOT is a system for eliminating acid, gas, water, salt, sand and silt from crude oil and injecting it into the pipeline during drilling, repairing, acidizing and testing oil wells.
Disposal Wells
Commenting on other environmentally-friendly measures, he noted that the company (annually) disposes 18 million barrels of wastewater produced in desalination units in disposal wells, a type of well which is used to dispose of waste fluids safely into the ground without toxicating freshwater aquifers or underground resources. In the past, the wastewater was pumped into plains or rivers.
KOGPC is planting trees on 3,000 hectares in Khuzestan Province.
The firm is in charge of seven exploitation units, seven desalination units in Asmari and Bangestan reservoirs plus 10 gas boosting pressure stations. It also handles three gas and liquefied petroleum gas plants, a gas sweetening refinery, a crude oil pump station and two MOTs.
Half of KOGPC output goes to Abadan and Tehran refineries, and the rest to Kharg Island terminal for export. The company also provides Mahshahr and Bandar Imam Khomeini petrochemical plants with feedstock.
Mofidi said KOGPC last year has indigenized 500 pieces of oil equipment in collaboration with domestic manufacturers and engineers since March.
The indigenized equipment include drilling mud pumps, blowout preventers, traction motors, draw-works, drilling fluid recycling systems, mission centrifugal pumps, top drives and drilling rig slow circulation rate pressure systems.
