Kharg NGL Project Gathers Momentum

Iranian Offshore Oil Company will hand over the development of a drawn-out natural gas liquid project on Kharg Island to a consortium of Iranian companies, chief executive officer of IOOC said.

Hamid Bovard added that the Kharg NGL Plant is planned to be developed by Ghadir Investment Company and SAFF Offshore Industries Company under a build-operate-transfer contract, Shana reported on Tuesday.

"The construction of NGL unit is forecast to be completed in three years," Bovard was cited as saying.

The NGL venture is among an increasing number of initiatives to collect and utilize natural gas burnt off in southern oil and gas fields. Plans to construct the Kharg NGL Plant date back to nearly a decade, but the venture has made little progress as a result of managerial and financial constraints. The project is aimed at curbing gas flaring by nearly 17 million cubic meters annually and preventing thousands of tons of emissions from being released into the atmosphere.

An NGL plant is designed to process gaseous hydrocarbons, including ethane, propane, butane and pentanes, and even higher molecular weight hydrocarbons. When processed and purified into finished byproducts, all of these are collectively referred to as natural gas liquids or NGL.

Ghadir Investment Company is the largest investment company listed on Tehran Stock Exchange that, through its seven holdings and 140 subsidiaries, operates in oil, gas, petrochemical, construction, transportation, power, information technology, mining and related industries, as well as financial and commercial activities.

SAFF operates in oil and gas engineering, management, procurement, construction, transportation, installation, commissioning and startup projects. It owns an offshore yard in Bandar Abbas Special Economic Zone, which is the biggest fabrication yard in Iran.

IOOC unveiled plans last year on holding an international tender for the Kharg natural gas liquids project. However, the state oil company now appears to be gravitating toward domestic companies to develop its energy projects.

Bovard said on Tuesday the development of Esfandiar, an offshore oil deposit shared with Saudi Arabia, as well as Reshadat Oilfield in the Persian Gulf, could go to Iranian companies.