Three gas refineries of South Pars Gas Field in the southern Bushehr Province will come on stream by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2019), the managing director of South Pars Gas Complex said on Sunday.
“Following the completion of 10 refineries at the site, the three remaining gas processing plants have made a progress rate of over 90%,” Hadi Hashemzadeh Farhang was also quoted as saying by Shana, the Oil Ministry’s official news agency.
According to Hashemzadeh, the refineries of phases 20-21, 17-18 and 19 were launched in the past two years with the help of domestic parts providers.
"With the launch of refineries, Iran’s gas output from the field matched that of Qatar in the southern part," he said.
Currently, the complex accounts for more than 70% of Iran’s total gas production, with close to 650,000 barrels of gas condensate per day supplied to the Persian Gulf Star Refinery and Nouri Petrochemical Complex as feedstock, 10,000 tons of ethane per day consumed by petrochemical complexes in Asalouyeh, 10,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas a day and about 2,100 tons of sulfur.
The official noted that production data pertaining to the first quarter of the present fiscal show a rise in the output of byproducts, such as ethane (42%), gas condensate (5%), liquefied petroleum gas (35%) and sulfur (35%), compared with that of the corresponding period in the last fiscal. He stressed that the participation of Iranian companies in South Pars has enhanced the skills of workforce, such that the refineries’ important operational index like accessibility and reliability are on a par with those of renowned international processing plants.
Hashemzadeh underscored that domestic manufacturers provide over 90% of equipment in the complex, including those used in electrical and mechanical facilities, as well as overhaul of the refinery, in addition to chemical products like industrial oils and catalysts.
“The efforts mentioned above have increased the resilience of gas refineries in emergency and minimized unplanned production outages,” he said.
South Pars, which is known as North Dome in the Qatari territory, is being developed in 24 phases.
