Fresh Impetus for South Pars DMC Unit Construction

The venture to build the demercaptanization of gas condensate (DMC) unit at the South Pars 2nd Refinery (belonging to phases 2 and 3) has received fresh impetus, as utility units are readied for installation, director of the project said.

"The project, being developed in South Pars for the first time, has registered a work-in-progress rate of 42% since July and plans are in place to complete it by September," Sirous Peykar was also quoted as saying by the National Iranian Oil Company on Wednesday.

Giving a breakdown on the venture, the official noted that 50% of the much-needed equipment have been purchased. Moreover, the engineering sector and implementation procedure have made 60% and 32% progress respectively.

According to the official, NIOC has commissioned the Research Institute of Petroleum Industry and Khatam-al-Anbia Construction Headquarters to set up the DMC unit.

"The refinery, which was fully overhauled in September, receives natural gas from phases 2 and 3 of South Pars Gas Field for processing and pumping it into the national gas trunkline," he said, adding that the second refinery came on stream 20 years ago as the first of 14 planned processing facilities for Iran's mega South Pars project.

Iran is making efforts to increase its gas condensates refining capacity by installing a DMC unit, an important component for processing condensates at a South Pars refinery.

"The plan will be finalized in 10 months unless limited access to financial resources adversely affects the venture," he said.

Pointing to necessary utilities, Peykar noted that negotiations are being held with potential domestic and international suppliers to procure compressors, rotating machinery and centrifugal pumps.

  Value-Added Commodities

Not only does the DMC unit help the refinery produce more value-added commodities, but also helps fight the menace of air pollution as it removes impurities like mercaptan, sulfur and other environmentally-unfriendly materials from gas condensates, the official said.

Pekar further said that the unit will reduce corrosive effects of harmful compounds on refining facilities.

DMC increases refining recovery rate and is seen as an integral part of processing gas condensates in advanced refineries.

"Similar plans are likely to be implemented in phases 4, 5, 9 and 10, if the ongoing initiative yields favorable results," he said.

Reportedly, phases 2 and 3 have produced a total of 8.1 billion cubic meters of gas since the beginning of the current fiscal year (March 21, 2017), or approximately 56 million cubic meters daily. South Pars is being developed in 24 phases. The field is called North Dome in Qatar's territory. According to an estimate, Iran's recoverable reserves stand at 10 trillion cubic meters and those of Qatar are estimated at over 25 trillion cubic meters. Iran has boosted gas production to around 880 million cubic meters per day, more than two-thirds of which come from South Pars.

Iran launched the first phase of its biggest condensate refining plant, the Persian Gulf Star Refinery, in April.

Located in Hormozgan Province, the plant is being developed in three phases, with the first development phase to produce 12 million liters per day of Euro-4 gasoline, 4.5 ml/d of Euro-4 diesel, 1 ml/d of kerosene and 300,000 liters per day of liquefied petroleum gas.