Nearly 7.8 million barrels of gas condensate, valued at $1.5 billion, was produced from South Pars Phase 12 since March 2014, Shana news agency reported.
From the total six sweetening units of the Phase 12 refinery, five has started operation, and the total capacity of the refinery has exceeded 70 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d). The sixth unit is expected to come on stream by the end of February.
Phase 12 has three platforms of which platform A and B are currently producing 56.6 mcm/d. Platform C is due for commissioning by February. Once fully operational, Phase 12 will have 65 mcm/d of sweet gas to pump into the national gas network. Work on 42 out totally 45 wells earmarked for drilling has just finished, and the remaining wells are expected to be completed by January 21.
With a physical progress of 96 percent so far, Phase 12 is one of the several phases of the South Pars gas field prioritized for production of gas and other products. The onshore and offshore sections and the drilling of the phase have recorded progress of 97, 99, and 93 percent, respectively.
Despite negotiations with numerous international firms such as Austria’s OMV, Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA, as well as several Indian companies, the development of Phase 12 has been carried out entirely by Iranian experts, after foreign companies faced restrictions to operate in Iran’s oil and gas projects due to western sanctions.
Phase 12 is the biggest phase in terms of the volume of activities as well as investment and production level. The field is estimated to contain 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of gas condensate.
Almost 57 percent of Iran’s total exports during the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (ends March 20) pertain to gas condensate and petrochemicals, according to official customs data. Gas condensate accounted for 27.8 percent of total exports in that period, up from last year’s 21.6 percent. The main buyers of Iranian gas condensates are the same as its traditional oil customers, namely China, India, South Korea, Turkey, Taiwan and Japan.
