Iran's South Pars Gas Field Ph.14 Coming to Production

Natural gas production is slated to commence at Phase 14 of South Pars Gas Field in the beginning of next year, director of Phase 14 said, a positive step in plans to launch all development phases of the giant Persian Gulf gas field in less than two years. 

Hamidreza Masoudi added that platform A of Phase 14 will be ready for loading and installation in January, following "successful operations" at the project's first offshore well, Shana reported.

Masoudi pointed to completing the perforation of Phase 14's first well, a process used to establish a flow path between the near reservoir and the wellbore.

"The first gas flare of Phase 14 is now burning" in a sign that gas flow is underway and the offshore facility is ready to come into operation, the official said.

"Test results show that the production capacity of Phase 14 exceeds initial estimates," Masoudi said without elaboration. A standard South Pars development phase is designed to produce 56 million cubic meter of natural gas per day.

The world's largest gas field is known as South Pars in Iran's territory with its Qatari extension referred to as the North Dome. Officials expect all 24 phases of South Pars to become up and running by March 2019, the end of the next fiscal year.

SP Phase 14 is aimed to produce natural gas from four offshore platforms with output to be transported to onshore processing facilities through a pipeline stretching over 100 kilometers. Upon completion, Phase 14 will also produce 75,000 barrels of gas condensate and 400 tons of sulfur per day as well as 2 million tons of liquefied gas annually.

Masoudi also said that Iran Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Company is completing platforms A14 and B14 in its shipyard, located near Bandar Abbas.

According to Masoudi, Phase 14 onshore utility units, namely processing trains, sulfur recycling plants and gas injection units linked to Iran's Gas Trunkline—aka IGAT—will be ready by March.

A consortium of Iranian companies is working on Phase 14, including the Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company, Industrial Development and Renovation Organization, National Iranian Drilling Company and ISOICO.

Iran said it matched Qatar's rate of gas extraction from the joint field after the launch of five South Pars phases in April, taking production to close to 600 million cubic meters per day.

In fiscal 2016-17, gas production from South Pars increased to 520 mcm/d, up more than 150 mcm/d compared with the previous year. Iran’s total gas output is above mcm/d, according to published reports.