A new loading dock to export liquefied petroleum gas became operational in Tombak Port, 50 kilometers north of the port of Asalouyeh in Bushehr Province.
Mohammad Meshkinfam, managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC), said it has two loading arms each of which can berth ships with a capacity of 50,000 tons. It is also equipped with a modern arm to load sulfur for vessels with capacities ranging from five to 50,000 tons, IRNA reported.
"An undertaking of domestic contractors, the project took five years to complete."
A 7000-ton LPG cargo was loaded and exported to the Far East from the new facility on Friday, he said, and added “a 44,000-ton LPG carrier will be loaded next week.”
The POGC chief said six pipelines transfer LPG from South Pars phases 13, 22, 23 and 24 to Tombak port that has a depth of 34 meters and is the deepest port in the country and the Persian Gulf region.
LPG is made up of butane, propane or a mixture of both gases. It is the second-best eco-friendly fuel after natural gas and delivered via trunk lines. Compared to natural gas, diesel and mazut, LPG has more than double the energy content at 93 megajoule per cubic meter.
Referring to LPG output, the official said Iran produces at least 12 million tons of LPG a year of which 60% is exported. The United States economic blockade “is not a major threat” to Iran's share of the global LPG market, he noted, but concurred that lifting the sanctions would help expand export.
While the US sanctions under Donald Trump hurt crude oil export (to less than 500,000 bpd), oil byproduct sales remain relatively strong at $500 million a month, shipping data and Reuters calculations show.
Petroleum Byproducts
In related news, IRNA quoted Hassan Montazer-Torbati, head of the National Iranian Gas Company, as saying that the US embargo has not seriously hampered Iran’s export of petroleum byproducts, particularly LPG used as cooking gas and petrochemical feed.
"LPG shipments, the bulk of which goes to China, Pakistan, Iraq and Turkey, are delivered regularly."
Denying reports that exports had discontinued due to lack of LPG tankers, the NIGC official said LPG lifting was never disrupted and shipping sources (S&P Platts) have confirmed that some of the gas recently went to Thailand. Oil Ministry data show LPG exports reached 356,000 million tons last September.
According to Global S&P Platts reports, Iranian exports are helping fill shortfalls in spot supply from the Middle East, as major producers Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait are exporting less spot cargoes and focus on fulfilling term contracts and meeting rising domestic petrochemical demand.
Iran has acquired the know-how to design and build LPG storage tanks. Torbati said Iranian companies including Panahsaz-e-Iran Engineering Company have so far built 40 LPG storage tanks in South Pars.
"Manufacturing each tank costs $25 million that is $7 million less than a foreign brand." The official said Iranian companies started building LPG tanks of phases 4-8 of South Pars Gas Field in 2000, while most of the work in the past was carried out by foreign companies. The knowhow was indigenized for phases 15 and 16.
South Pars, the world's largest gas field shared between Iran and Qatar was developed in 24 phases, of which 23 are operating.
