Large BB3 multistage centrifugal pumps used in the oil and gas industry have been indigenized, the managing director of Iran Industrial Pumps Company said.
“The pumps are intricate in terms of design and manufacturing. All stages of production are now done by domestic engineers from design, molding and casting, to testing and installation," Gholam Hossein Farajpour was quoted as saying by IRIB News Agency.
The pumps will be used in national projects to transfer oil from Goureh to Jask, he added. Fifty pumps each with 2.5 megawatts are needed,” Farajpour noted.
Domestic manufactures, including Iran Industrial Pumps Company and Heavy Duty Pumps and Water Turbine Manufacture Company (Petco), are involved in the production.
He said the pumps have passed the API 610 standard tests. The standard, defined by American Petroleum Institute, specifies requirements for centrifugal pumps for application in petroleum, petrochemical and gas industries.
BB3 pumps are an integral part of modern petroleum facilities with a flexible range of flow for liquids and at each stage of pumping the pressure rises. The more stages a pump has, the higher the final discharge pressure. They are also maintenance intensive requiring skilled workers to ensure continuous operation.
Established in 1977 in Qazvin, Iran Industrial Pumps Company is active in design, manufacture, installation and commissioning high quality pumps including automatic booster pumps and centrifugal pumps.
The Goureh-Jask crude oil pipeline project includes construction of a 1,000-kilometer pipeline to move 1 million barrels of oil a day from the West Karoun region to Jask off the Sea of Oman.
First phase of the project is scheduled to come on stream by next March and will transfer 350,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
Work on the project began last summer and is expected to end in 2022. In less than two years, light, heavy and ultra-heavy crude oil will be transferred from Goureh oil terminal in Bushehr Province to Jask Port in Hormozgan Province.
The project includes construction of 20 oil storage facilities, pumping stations and an oil export terminal. When ready, Jask Oil Terminal will store 30 million barrels of oil and export one million barrels per day.
Oil production has reduced as Iran faces restrictions in exports due to the tough US sanctions, but continues to develop its massive oil and gas sector despite plunging exports.
Expansion continues despite dismal global demand and falling prices due to the coronavirus and universal lockdown measures to fight the deadly disease. Authorities say the measures would ensure a quick return to international markets when the US animosity ends.
Outgoing US president, Donald Trump, withdrew from the landmark Iran 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 and imposed new sanctions, mainly targeting the key oil, banking and shipping sectors.
According to data from S&P Global Platts, shipments of Iranian oil fell to as low as about 200,000 bpd after the sanctions took effect while before that, in early 2018, it was exporting 2.5 million bpd.
In related news, Energy Today website quoted Hamid Izadi, the head of South Zagros Oil and Gas Production Company, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, as saying that the firm has manufactured and repaired 1,500 parts used in the oil and gas industry with the help of domestic companies over the past fiscal year.
“The parts include control valves, impeller valves, pumps, filters, hoses and connectors, gas and air compressors, and turbines among others.”
Another active company in the sector, National Iranian South Oil Company, successfully indigenized technology for producing 1,000 plus oil equipment in 2019 jointly with the private sector.
NISOC has been pursuing a program for supporting domestic producers in the key oil industry.
More than 12,000 parts and equipment used in the oil industry have been indigenized by the NISOC.
