Iran will invest around $11 billion on its offshore gas fields to raise gas production by 240 million cubic meters per day, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company said.
“The development of a new economic hub for gas production in the North Pars field is on the agenda of NIOC,” Mohsen Khojastehmehr was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
NIOC plans to develop the first phase of Kish Gas Field and accelerate the completion of Phase 11 of South Pars Gas Field, he added.
The official noted that with a $4-billion investment in the development of North Pars field, 100 mcm per day of gas will be produced from the field.
“The country's need for gas consumption and export requires us to develop new underground resources,” he said.
Located 120 kilometers southeast of the southern Bushehr Province, North Pars is one of the biggest independent gas fields of the country.
A brief review of North Pars shows that 17 wells have so far been drilled and 26 offshore platforms have been installed there. However, development and production are yet to start.
North Pars has the capacity to produce 100 million cubic meters of gas per day. Such a recovery would require the drilling of 46 wells. The rate of recovery envisaged for North Pars stands at 61%.
Its gas is planned to be used at processing plants for the annual production of 20 million tons of liquefied natural gas.
Kish Gas Field
According to Khojastehmehr, the development of Kish Gas Field, another project of NIOC, is underway to bring on stream the first phase of the field by early 2023.
Pars Oil and Gas Company, a subsidiary of NIOC, has been commissioned to develop the Kish field, the second largest field in the Persian Gulf after South Pars.
Located 30 km east of Lavan Island, the giant field's development plan includes three phases. In the first phase, 14 wells have been drilled but production has not begun.
A 200 km pipeline is planned to be laid to connect the field to refineries in South Pars Gas Field and Fajr Jam Gas Refinery in Bushehr.
When the pipes are laid, 28.3 million cubic meters of gas will be supplied to the refineries.
Upon the completion of all three phases, the field will produce 85 mcm of natural gas per day.
As the world's fifth biggest offshore gas field, Kish reserves were discovered in 2006 and is believed to hold an estimated 1.9 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in situ, of which 1.4 tcm are recoverable. It also contains more than 500 million barrels of gas condensates.
Unlike South Pars that is jointly owned with Qatar, Kish is fully inside Iranian maritime borders near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
South Pars Phase 11
Referring to the ongoing project at the South Pars Gas Field, Khojastehmehr said Phase 11 will produce 50 million cubic meters of gas per day.
“Given the mechanism designed to accelerate this project, we hope to produce gas from this phase by the end of the next Iranian year [March 2023],” he added.
Located in the Persian Gulf, South Pars is by far the world's largest natural gas field shared by Iran and Qatar. It covers an area of 3,700 square kilometers of Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.
According to the International Energy Agency, the field holds an estimated 51 trillion cubic meters of in-situ natural gas and some 50 billion barrels (7.9 billion cubic meters) of natural gas condensates.
More than $78 billion have been spent on the field developed in 24 phases.
South Pars accounts for 80% of Iran’s gas need. Output from the giant field is now 700 mcm per day and the figure is expected to reach 1.2 billion cubic meters per day by 2024.
South Pars accounts for 80% of Iran’s gas need and the decline in output will create huge problems for households, industries and thermal power stations.
NIOC has earned almost $355 billion in revenues over the past 18 years by selling the gas field’s products, including gas condensates, natural gas and its derivatives.
