Natural gas transfer capacity has increased by 150 million cubic meters a day in the last four months, director of dispatching at the National Iranian Gas Company said.
“The gas network has the capacity to supply one billion cubic meters of gas (on a daily basis) to households, industries and power plants. This is up 18% compared to January when it was 800,000 mcm/d,” IRNA quoted Mehdi Jamshidi Dana as saying.
Pipe laying work to link the South Pars Gas Field onshore refineries in Asalouyeh to Iran Gas Trunkline (IGAT) has been carried out over the past three years and is near completion, he said.
Referring to the ninth Iran Gas Trunkline (IGAT-9), Jamshidi Dana noted that it was the least developed pipeline in 2018, but is complete now.
“The pipeline which extended from South Pars Gas Field onshore refineries in Asalouyeh, Bushehr Province, to Behbahan in Khuzestan Province has now reached Bazargan border crossing West Azarbaijan Province in the northwest."
The 125-km pipeline has increased IGAT-9 capacity by at least 150 million cubic meters per day, and it will augment gas supply to cold cities in the west, namely Miandoab, Mahabad, Khouy and Maku.
Iranian Gas Transmission Company, a subsidiary of National Iranian Gas Company, has divided the country into 10 districts, of which District 7 (from where IGAT-9 passes) includes Hamedan, Markazi, Lorestan, Ilam, Kermanshah, Kurdestan, Qazvin and Zanjan provinces.
Almost 13% of national gas output is delivered to these provinces, supplying 145 cities of the district’s 155 cities.
Gas production capacity has reached 900 mcm/d, of which 650 mcm/d comes from South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf and the rest (250 mcm/d) is produced by the Iranian Central Oil Fields Company that has three subsidiaries, namely West Oil and Gas Production Company, East Oil and Gas Production Company and South Zagros Oil and Gas Production Company.
Value-Added Products
“As the SP phases develop, output rises. Infrastructure to transfer gas should also expand so that whatever is produced can be exported or converted into value-added products like electricity in thermal power plants.”
Located in the Persian Gulf straddling the maritime borders between Iran and Qatar, South Pars 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.
Iran is developing the mega gas project in 24 phases, 23 of which are either complete or in the final stages. Development of phase 11 has just started.
IGAT is a series of nine large diameter pipelines built to supply gas from refineries in the south (Khuzestan and Bushehr provinces) across the country.
IGAT-1, 42 inches in diameter, was constructed between Bid Boland Refinery in Khuzestan Province and the port of Astara in the northern Gilan Province.
IGAT-2 connects Fajr Refinery in Bushehr Province in the south and Qazvin Province in the north.
IGAT-3 extends from Asalouyeh to Markazi Province and reaches Gilan Province.
Stretching over 1,145 kilometers, IGAT-4 with a capacity of 110 mcm/d, transfers gas produced in South Pars to Fars and Isfahan provinces.
IGAT-5 transfers sour gas produced in SP phases 6, 7 and 8 to Khuzestan Province for injection into oil wells to boost extraction.
IGAT-6 transfers gas from South Pars to southern and western regions namely Hamedan and Kermanshah Provinces.
IGAT-7 stretches 900 km between Asalouyeh and Iranshahr in Sistan-Baluchestan Province.
The 56-inch-diameter IGAT-8, stretching over 1,000 km, transfers 110 mcm of gas from South Pars to the central parts of the country on a daily basis.
In related news, IRNA said Iranian gas export to Turkey that was disrupted 40 days ago (due to a pipeline explosion) has yet not resumed.
“Botas, the importing company, is responsible for repairing the ruptured pipeline, but work is slow due to coronavirus restrictions in Turkey,” Jamshidi said.
Turkey's gas import from Iran was suspended for the tenth time on March 31 following an explosion in the pipeline 1.5 km inside Turkey near the border with Iran.
According to the NIGC official, Iran has offered help to the Turkish side, but Botas has said it can manage repairs on its own.