South Pars Phase 14 Production Closer

In line with efforts to boost natural gas output from South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf, the first offshore platform of the field's Phase 14 was successfully installed, director of Phase 14 said on Wednesday.

“Platform 14A, which weighs 2,500 tons, was installed with the help of domestic Oceanic 5000 crane ship and has the capacity to extract 500 million cubic feet (14.2 million cubic meters) of natural gas per day,” Hamidreza Masoudi was also quoted as saying by IRNA.

According to the official, as soon as hook-up operations are completed, sour gas extracted from Phase 14 will be transferred to South Pars 2 refineries before being injected into the Iran Gas Trunkline.

"Eleven wells have already been drilled around the platform, of which eight will go on stream gradually by the end of February," he said, noting that operations are underway to get satellite platforms ready for connected them to the main platform.

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.

Pointing to Phase 14 development contract, worth $5.25 billion, that was signed between the National Iranian Oil l Company and a consortium headed by the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran, the official added that the mega project has registered a work-in -progress rate of 77.5%.

Giving a breakdown on the venture, the official noted that the contractors have laid close to 230 kilometers of subsea pipelines. Operations to drill 22 wells have already been completed while work on 22 more wells is underway.

Asked about other platforms, Masoudi noted that platform 14B, under constructed at Iran Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Company's yard in Bandar Abbas in southern Iran, has made 88% progress. Satellite platforms 14C and 14D will also be completed as scheduled.

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.

"Test results show that the production capacity of Phase 14 exceeds initial estimates at 56 million cubic meters," Masoudi said, noting that a standard South Pars development phase is designed to produce 56 mcm of natural gas per day. 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.