South Pars Platform 19A Ready for Launch

South Pars Platform 19A, installed in July, is ready to go on stream by the end of October, contractor of the South Pars Phase 19 said on Wednesday.

"After the platform is launched, 14 million cubic meters of natural gas will be extracted per day from the offshore field," Hamidreza Masoudi was quoted as saying by IRNA.

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, which measures 6,000 square kilometers. Elaborating on technical issues, Masoudi added that the extracted gas will be transferred to an onshore refinery where it will be processed and injected into the national grid, known as IGAT. The platform was installed on July 19.

Pointing to the completion of offshore pipelines to supply gas to Phase 19 onshore refinery, the official said, "Currently 22 million cubic meters per day of gas is extracted with the help of platform19C, of which 19 mcm/d is injected into the national grid after being processed in the first and fourth gas sweetening trains."

The director of Phase 19 underscored that 11,000 workers were employed to expedite the plan. At present, 4,000 personnel are active in the phase’s onshore section.

  Environmental Norms

According to Masoudi, Phase 19 complies with all health, safety and environment (HSE) protocols ratified by the National Iranian Oil Company.

Attaching importance to environmental issues in Phase 19 development initiative, the official noted that in addition to installing environmental protection systems, the sweetening trains are equipped with not only regeneration compressors but also gas condensate stabilizer units that play a major role in minimizing the amount of associated petroleum gases burned off in flares.

APG is a form of natural gas found in petroleum deposits. It is often released as a waste product. When it is burned off in flares, it is referred to as flare gas.

Masoudi noted that as soon as the third and fourth sulfur recycling units come on stream, not only will the huge amount of sulfur be separated, but noxious gas components will be significantly curtailed.

On the modern laboratory for SP Phase 19, he added that the refineries' output and input are routinely tested in the lab and when defects are found they are corrected immediately. The development Phase 19, undertaken by a consortium of Petropars Limited, Petropars Iran and IOEC under an engineering, procurement and construction contract, is among the priorities of South Pars.

Once fully operational, Phase 19 is estimated to produce 50 mcm/d of gas as well as 75,000 barrels of gas condensate, 1 million tons of liquefied natural gas and 1 million tons of ethane per year.  Iran has an estimated 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, around 18% of the total global gas reserves. In other words, it has the potential to become a major player in the international gas market.

The country is now drawing around 540 mcm/d of gas from the joint field, hoping to outpace Qatar's production by the end of next year.