The Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) is in talks with both Iran Marine Industrial Company (SADRA) and Khatam-al-Anbia Engineering Firm to speed up the development of South Pars gas field phases 13 and 22-24, POGC managing director said, Shana news agency reported on Saturday.
Ali Akbar Shabanpour said the onshore sector of these phases has made good progress, yet the development of offshore facilities is behind schedule, so a decision will be made on participation of Sadra and Khatam-al-Anbia companies in these projects in the near future. Plans call for the launch of one platform from each of the phases in the next Iranian calendar year (starts March 2016).
SADRA is one of the leading shipbuilding and repairing companies in Iran, which has been active in major offshore oil and gas development projects. It specializes in building ships, docks as well as floating oil rigs. Khatam-al-Anbia is also a major contractor in industrial projects. The company, established during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980's to help rebuild the country, has diversified into a mechanical, engineering, energy, mining and defense sector.
Gas output is slated to exceed 800 million cubic meters per day in three years. According to estimates, delays in the completion of SP phases cost Iran approximately $100 million in revenues every day.
South Pars is the world's largest gas field shared between Iran and Qatar, covering an area of 3,700 square kilometers of Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. It adjoins Qatar’s North Field, measuring 6,000 square kilometers. Iran presently extracts approximately 300 mcm/d of gas from SP, while the tiny Arab neighbor Qatar draws nearly double. According to oil officials, however, it could match Qatar’s rate of extraction by mid-2016 should SP phases come on stream according to the schedule.
