Development of Tous Gas Field and Shourijeh storage facility, both in Khorasan Razavi Province, will guarantee sustainable gas supply to households and industries in the eastern and northern provinces, the managing director of Central Iranian Oil Fields Company said.
“Producing 3 million cubic meters per day of gas from Tous field in the first phase will be realized by digging three new wells and repairing an existing well,” Ramin Hatami was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry news agency Shana.
“Furthermore, work on the second phase of Shourijeh facility is underway and upon completion, gas storage capacity will be increased by 20 million cubic meters per day,” he added.
Tous Gas Field is located 100 kilometers northeast of Mashhad. Discovered 13 years ago, gas production from the field has yet to commence.
Development of the field will help lift the regional economy and help stabilize energy supply to the region.
It is estimated that the field has in-place gas reserve of 60 billion cubic meters and can produce three to five million cubic meters of natural gas per day.
Due to the need to supply gas in the north and northeast in the cold seasons when consumption rises to a great extent and the sharp decline in production expected in the Mozdouran reservoir by 2025, the development project of Shourijeh natural gas storage facility has been planned to increase its capacity, which is the main feedstock supplier of Khangiran Refinery in Sarakhs County, Khorasan Razavi.
As a routine procedure, gas is injected into reservoirs in the current fiscal year’s first eight months (March 21-Nov. 21) and used in the last four months of each year.
Currently, Shourijeh and Sarajeh reservoirs in the northeast and central regions are the only natural gas storage facilities.
As a leading gas producer, Iran is expanding its underground gas storage capacity with plans to increase the capacity of Sarajeh and Shourijeh.
Plans are also underway to add five storage facilities to secure stable gas supply, especially in the cold season.
Iran is to increase its gas output capacity to meet the increasing demand of all sectors.
In case all the requirements of the plans are provided, in the next 10 years, daily gas output will reach 1.5 billion cubic meters from the current 1 bcm.
In terms of gas reserves, Iran is second in the world after Russia, having about 34 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves.
Hatami also noted that development of Khangiran Gas Field will be carried out next year.
Khangiran gas field is 180 kilometers northeast of Mashhad. Its total proven reserves is estimated at 480 billion cubic meters and data show the field's extraction now is 48 mcm/d.
Sour gas from the field is used to meet demand in the northeast province. Major part of the gas is fed into power plants, petrochemical factories and used for household consumption.
Drilling New Wells
A project to drill 90 new wells and repair 79 wells will be carried out in a five-year period in the operational area of the South Zagros Oil and Gas Production Company, Hatami said.
“The project is on the agenda to increase gas production (2022 to 2026s) in Halegan, Sefid Zakhour, Sefid Baghoun, Agar, Day, Eram, Gardan, Khartang, Madar and Pazan by drilling 90 development wells and repairing 17 others,” Shana quoted him as saying.
A development well is a well that is generally drilled in or next to a proven part of a pool to optimize petroleum production. It is drilled for the production of oil or gas from a field that is known to be suitable because appraisal drilling has already been done.
“Moreover, 62 wells in Nar, Kangan, Tabnak, Homa, Shanol, Varavi and Sarkhoun fields will be repaired,” he added.
The gas fields will be developed so as to prevent a reduction in their extraction rate.
Since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 2021), SZOGPC has produced about 40.86 billion cubic meters of gas, 12.8 million barrels of gas condensate and 1.55 million barrels of oil from the fields it operates, the official said.
SZOGPC, as one of the three subsidiaries of the ICOFC, operates in Fars, Bushehr and Hormozgan provinces in south of Iran.
