Parsian Refinery Selling Gas Condensates to Foreign, Local Clients

Japan has become an importer of Iran's gas condensates, following in the footsteps of its neighbor South Korea, the managing director of Parsian Gas Refining Company said. 

Farshid Abdali Dehdezi told a news conference on Monday that several cargoes of gas condensates, produced by Parsian Gas Refinery in Fars Province, have been exported to the two buyers in East Asia, Shana reported.

He said domestic petrochemical companies are also among Parsian's customers for gas condensate, a type of ultra light crude found in the Persian Gulf's gas reservoirs. 

“On average, Parsian produces 32,000 barrels of gas condensates per day and sends it to Asalouyeh (in Bushehr province) for export,” Abdali said, adding that the refinery’s total gas condensate output in the past eight months reached 6.5 million barrels.

Output is projected at 10 million barrels by March 2017, which marks the end of the current Iranian fiscal year.

The daily gas processing capacity of the refinery is 75 million cubic meters, which is injected into the fourth phase of the national gas grid, known as IGAT-4, transferring South Pars gas to the central Fars and Isfahan provinces.

South Pars is the world’s largest gas field, 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.

According to reports released last week, Iran's natural gas production from the giant gas field will reach 515 million cubic meters per day by the end of the month as total production is planned to exceed 540 mcm/d by next March. 

“An estimated 17.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas was processed in the Parsian Gas Refinery over the past eight months and is planned to reach 25 billion cubic meters,” Abdali said. The refinery consists of three units: two units with a processing capacity of 21 million cubic meters per day each, and a larger unit which can produce up to 37 mcm/d.

Parsian Gas Refinery reportedly processes 13% of Iran's total gas output.

Iran holds the world’s second biggest natural gas reserves after Russia, which accounts for 17% of the world's proved natural gas reserves. Iran's largest natural gas field, South Pars, is estimated to hold roughly 40% of the Islamic Republic's known gas reserves.