The drilling rig of Phase 11 of South Pars Gas Field will be put on its jacket in a few months and drilling will begin in June.
Phase 11 is scheduled to be developed in two integrated and consecutive stages. Each stage will contain 15 wells and produce 56 million cubic meters of gas per day plus 75,000 barrels of gas condensate, Mehr News Agency reported.
This will require construction and installation of two 32-inch pipelines jointly stretching over 270 kilometers. With the completion of installations, gas production would start in 2022.
Petropars is in charge of developing Phase 11. In 2017 the project was assigned to this company in cooperation with Total of France and CNPC of China. However, due to mounting US pressure and tough economic sanctions in 2018, the two companies fearing America’s wrath walked away from the mega deal.
Eventually a decision was made last October to cede development of Phase 11 to Petropars and draw on domestic potential and capability to get the job done.
Phase 11 gas output will be pumped to refineries in Asaluyeh and Kangan in Bushehr Province.
Domestic companies will develop a major part of the project, manufacturing rigs and pipelines as well as other necessary equipment, and providing services.
South Pars has 24 phases and is located in the Persian Gulf straddling the maritime border between Iran and the Arab state of Qatar.
It covers 9,700 square kilometers, of which 3,700 square kilometers belongs to Iran. The Iranian side of the field contains an estimated 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of condensates.
Biggest Gas Field
Estimated to hold 8% of the world’s total gas reserves and 50% of Iran’s domestic gas reserves, South Pars is considered to be the world’s biggest gas field by reserves.
SP gas field is located 3,000 meters below the seabed at a depth of 65 meters. It was discovered by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) in 1990 and commenced production in 2002.
Petropars, a subsidiary of National Iranian Oil Company, had a role in developing South Pars phases 4-8 as well as phases 12 and 19.
It was founded in 1998 to contribute to the development of vast energy resources and is now one of the leading contractors in upstream oil and gas projects.
Over $80 billion have been invested in the giant gas field since 2001 when the first well was drilled. Products (condensates, natural gas and other depravities) worth $270 billion have been extracted from the field over 18 years.
Domestic gas output has reached 850 million cubic meters a day. With completion of the remaining offshore and refinery projects in phases 13 and 14, total output will surpass 1 billion cubic meters a day.
