South Pars Platform Ready for Installation

In line with efforts to complete the development project of South Pars Phase 14, loading operations to transfer platform 14A for installation in the Persian Gulf are being carried out in Iran Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Company yard in Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan project, the managing director of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran said.

"The 2,350-ton platform, completed at an estimated cost of $115 million, is ready to be carried to its location,” Mansour Moazzami was also quoted as saying by IRNA on Tuesday.

According to the official, the gigantic structure will be installed by the end of January, following which the extraction of 14 million cubic meters of natural gas from Phase 14 will start.

"ISOICO is completing platforms 14B as well as satellite platforms 14B and 14D in its shipyard," Moazzami said, noting that Phase 14 onshore utility units, namely processing trains, sulfur recycling plants and gas injection units linked to Iran's Gas Trunkline—aka IGAT—will be up and running by March 2018.

Phase 14 is slated to produce 56 million cubic meters of gas and 75,000 barrels of gas condensates per year to meet domestic gas demand and supply feedstock to petrochemical units in the Pars Special Energy Economic Zone in the southern Bushehr Province.

The phase is also expected to annually produce more than 1 million tons of gas condensates, 1 million tons of ethane for petrochemical units and 400 tons of brimstone.

  Exceeding Estimates

"Test results show that the production capacity of Phase 14 exceeds initial estimates at 56 million cubic meters," Hamidreza Masoudi, director of Phase 14, said.

"A standard South Pars development phase is designed to produce 56 mcm of natural gas per day."

Masoudi pointed to the completion of the perforation of Phase 14's first well, which helps establish a flow path between the reservoir and wellbore.

"The first gas flare of Phase 14 is now burning" in a sign that gas flow is underway and the offshore facility is ready to become operational, the official said.Asked about Phase 14 drilling operations, he said 22 wells have been drilled and effort is being made to complete the rest in the near future.

According to the official, satellite platforms of the phase (14C and 14D) will be connected to main platforms (14B and 14A) with the help of two 18-inch pipelines.

The world's largest gas field is known as South Pars in Iran's territory with its Qatari extension referred to as the North Dome. Officials expect all 24 phases of South Pars to come on stream by March 2019, the end of the next fiscal year.

SP Phase 14 is aimed at producing natural gas from four offshore platforms with output to be transported to onshore processing facilities through a pipeline stretching over 100 kilometers. A consortium of Iranian companies is working on Phase 14, including the Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company, IDRO, National Iranian Drilling Company and ISOICO.

Iran said it matched Qatar's rate of gas extraction from the joint field after the launch of five South Pars phases in April, taking production to near 600 million cubic meters per day.

In fiscal 2016-17, gas production from South Pars increased to 520 mcm/d, up more than 150 mcm/d compared with the previous year. Iran’s total gas output is above 800 mcm/d, according to published reports.