Iran's Hengam Island Gas Units to Come on Stream Soon

Gas processing facilities of Hengam oil and gas field on Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf are planned to come on stream in the near future, the managing director of Iranian Offshore Oil Company said on Monday.

“About €70 million [$87 million] have so far been spent to launch the gas processing facilities in the field, which will prevent the flaring of 2 million cubic meters per day of associated petroleum gas from being released into the atmosphere,” Hamid Bovard was also quoted as saying by the news website of National Iranian Oil Company.

Flaring is the practice of burning gas deemed uneconomical to collect and sell. It also indicates the lack of infrastructure to process it or aimed at solving a safety problem.

For years, Iran has struggled to curb the burning of huge amounts of associated petroleum gas, which has a more damaging impact on the environment. At the beginning of last year, Iran's Parliament signed into law a bill to curb the flaring of natural gas to 10% or lower by 2021. 

Stressing that the construction of facilities commenced four years ago, Bovard noted that following the completion of installation operation in December, pre-commissioning and commissioning stages have started.

“In the past 70 days, all processing, infrastructure and utility units, including dehumidification, sweetening, pipeline, tanks, boilers and compressors, have come on stream under the regulations of Pre-Startup Safety Review,” he said.

The PSSR is conducted prior to commissioning a new or modified processing/manufacturing plant or facility to ensure that installations meet the original design or operating intent to catch and reassess any potential hazard due to changes during the detailed engineering and construction phases of a project. 

  Doubling Qeshm Gas Output

Bovard said the volume of flared gas equals the output of Gavarzin Gas Field on the island, which implies that Qeshm’s total gas production would double upon the launch of processing facilities. 

According to the official, sour gas was injected into the facilities last month to prepare them for gas processing and production, which will amount to 2 mcm/d to be used in the island’s industries and power plants. He noted that all stages of launching the facilities have been implemented by Iranian contractors, manufacturers and experts.

"Qeshm Island’s crude processing capacity has reached 45,000 barrels per day, which can be utilized to further develop its oilfields," he said.

Stressing that with 17 offshore and onshore hydrocarbon fields, Qeshm can turn into the Persian Gulf’s energy hub, Bovard said according to the latest surveys, the island holds 1.13 trillion cubic meters of in-place gas reserves as well as 4 billion barrels of crude oil.