Energy

Daily Gas Outputof to Increase by 130 mcm Next year

Iran’s total gas production capacity will increase by 130 million cubic meters per day in the next Iranian year (March 2022-23), managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company said.

Referring to plans for raising gas output as NIOC's priorities, Mohsen Khojastehmehr said, “At present, the daily gas production capacity is close to 1 billion cubic meters. With the eight-year program of the Oil Ministry, we hope that the production and processing capacity will reach 1.5 bcm per day by 2030,” the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana quoted him as saying.

Speaking about the ongoing projects to boost the gas output capacity, he said the development plan South Pars Gas Field Phase 11 is doing well and it is expected to start injecting gas into the national grid next year.

So far, over 8,000 meters of drilling operations have been carried out in Phase 11.

The first section of drilling operations in the phase includes the drilling of four production wells. The drilling estimated for the four wells is 15,000 meters, more than half of which has been completed.

Phase 11 is the only one among the 24 phases of the giant joint field in the Persian Gulf, which has not been developed yet. Iran shares the field with Qatar.

The Phase 11 development project includes the construction and installation of the jacket and topside of the phase, drilling 12 wells and laying 32-inch pipes on the seabed from the phase’s platform to onshore facilities. The installation of the first wellhead jacket was completed last December. 

Petropars Group, which is in charge of developing the phase, has been using parts and equipment produced by Iranian manufacturers and the services of domestic companies in various sectors.

When fully operational, the phase will produce 56.6 million cubic meters of gas per day plus 75,000 barrels of gas condensate. Gas will be transferred to onshore refineries in Asalouyeh and Kangan in Bushehr Province.

 

 

Kish Gas Field

According to Khojastehmehr, another project is underway for the development of Kish Gas Field, the first phase of which will be launched next year.

The project is being carried out by the Pars Oil and Gas Company, a subsidiary of NIOC.

Kish field, the second largest in the Persian Gulf after South Pars, is located 30 km east of Lavan Island. 

The giant field's development plan includes three phases. In the first phase, 28.3 million cubic meters of gas will be produced on a daily basis.

Upon the completion of all three phases, the field will produce 85 million cubic meters 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 trillion cubic meters 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.

Gas accounts for around 70% of fuel use in Iran, with the household sector being the largest consumer, followed by power plants and petrochemical facilities.

With domestic consumption on the rise, the country needs to increase its gas output so that it does not face any problem in supplying different sectors.