The long-awaited South Pars phases 15 and 16 have made 97% progress and will go on stream in December, Mohammad Reza Forouzesh, contractor of the two phases, said on Sunday.
According to Forouzesh, the project should have been completed in 52 months at an estimated cost of $3 billion.
However, due to international banking restrictions, not only did it take much longer, but its expenses also doubled, IRNA reported.
"Phases 15 and 16 refineries will become operational in three weeks," he said, adding that the platforms have made 98% progress and gas extracted from these two phases will be delivered to the refinery.
Forouzesh said propane and butane reservoirs will be built in a month and a part of produced ethane will be used in petrochemical units.
Asked about the costs, he said, "Since 2005, $6 billion have been invested in the project, of which $3 billion were in onshore section, $2 in offshore and the rest in drilling operations."
Underscoring the high profit rate of South Pars phases, Forouzesh said, "Daily revenue from phases 15 and 16 is projected to reach $20 million per day, which is about $6 billion per annum. According to the contractor, 10.7 billion cubic meters of sweetened natural gas have been injected to the Iran Gas Trunkline —aka IGAT—from these two phases since the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2015).
"Arya Shahab Naft Company, as the leader of the consortium to develop phases 15 and 16, has cooperated fully with Pars Oil and Gas Company to complete the project as scheduled," Forouzesh said.
In February, 500,000 barrels of gas condensates were loaded and exported from SP phases 15 and 16. He also said 34 million cubic meters of natural gas is currently produced every day from the two phases. Gas production from these phases is expected to reach 40 mcm per day in the coming weeks. Phases 15 and16 are under development for production of 56.6 mcm per day of natural gas, 75,000 bpd of gas condensates, 400 tons a day of sulfur, 1.05 million tons a year of liquefied petroleum gas and one million tons a year of ethane.
South Pars, which is jointly owned by Iran and Qatar, supplies 72% of Iran's daily gas demand.
