Iranian engineers have set up and manage the refrigeration compressor at the 10th refinery of South Pars Gas Field Phase 19 for the first time in Pars Special Economic Energy Zone on the northern shores of the Persian Gulf, managing director of Petropars Company said.
Hamidreza Masoudi said the compressor was purchased from a foreign company, though he did not name it, and the company’s technicians were in charge of installation.
“Due to the US economic siege, the foreign company refused to send its engineers to install and set up the safety systems,” ILNA quoted him as saying.
Therefore, Petropars engineers in collaboration with other domestic firms decided to get the job done and in two years acquired the multifarious knowhow, Masoudi said.
“It is the first of its kind in the South Pars and has become operational at the 10th refinery.”
A refrigerant compressor serves two purposes: it provides suction to maintain the desired reaction temperature, and compresses and cycles the isobutene that is flashed as refrigerant in order to cool the feed hydrocarbons to the desired reaction temperature.
Donald Trump, who was voted out of office in last month’s US presidential elections, withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal Iran signed with six world powers and imposed new sanctions on Iran, targeting its key economic sectors, namely oil, banking, shipping and other major industries.
Moreover, “the fourth turbo-expander of Phase 19 has been set up by local engineers” and helps in the separation process of ethane from methane, Masoudi noted.
A turbo-expander or an expansion turbine is a centrifugal or axial-flow turbine through which high-pressure gas is expanded to drive a compressor or generator.
With these facilities new units in the refinery as well as LPG storage tanks have become operational and helped increase the production of butane by 1,250 tons and propane by 2,000 tons per day.
Natural gas production at the giant South Pars Gas Field has reached one billion cubic meters per day.
South Pars, which is shared between Iran and Qatar, is the world's largest gas field, covering an area of 3,700 square kilometers of Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.
With an estimated 14.2 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves in place plus 18 billion barrels of gas condensate, the Iranian side of the field accounts for 40% of Iran’s total estimated 33.8 tcm of gas reserves and 60% of its gas production.
Iran holds the world’s second largest gas reserves after Russia. According to BP Statistical Review of World Energy, Iran has 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves or 18% of the world’s proven reserves.
Petropars was founded in 1998 to help develop the vast energy resources and is one of the leading contractors of upstream oil and gas projects.
It has recently been tasked with the development of the giant South Azadegan Oilfield in Khuzestan Province and Belal Gas Field off the Persian Gulf.
