After completion of the first phase of the plan to collect associated petroleum gases in the Forouzan Oilfield in the Persian Gulf by the end of the current fiscal (March 209), an estimated 15 million cubic meters of natural gas will be transferred to regional gas refining units.
“Pipe laying has been completed and pipes from Forouzan field to Kharg Island are in place. Gas will be transferred in four months,” the National Iranian Oil Company website quoted the deputy for production affairs at Kharg Operational Zone as saying.
Mohamadreza Akbar-Mousavi said the gas will be used as feedstock for both petrochemical industries in the south and the gas purification unit in the Doroud 3 Oil and Gas Complex in the island.
He added that the jacket of platform 18F of Forouzan has been put in place and the topside for the platform has been loaded in Qeshm Island.
Once the 940 ton structure is installed, eight wells will be drilled.
Each well will produce between 1,500 to 2,000 bpd of oil, Akbar-Mousavi said.
The field's output currently is 53,000 bpd and after the new wells start functioning output will rise by 12,000-16,000 barrels a day.
Located 100km southwest of Kharg Island, Forouzan is a joint oilfield with Saudi Arabia where it is known as Marjan.
Iran owns 11% of the field and the lion’s share belongs to the Saudis as the oilfield’s reservoir is located in the territorial waters of the Arab country.
It was discovered by the Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company in 1966 with estimated in-place reserves of 2.3 billion barrels. Iran aims to raise production from Forouzan to 100,000 bpd.
Development of the Forouzan Oilfield calls for producing more than 300 million barrels of crude oil over 25 years. The offshore field is also expected to produce 7.08 million cubic meters of gas per day, which will be moved to Kharg Island via a subsea pipeline.
