Collection of associated petroleum gases from oilfields is a priority of the Oil Ministry and according to plans almost 90% of the APG will be collected by 2022, the production manager of National Iranian South Oil Company, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, said at the weekend.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 10th Exhibition of Domestic Manufacturing of Petroleum and Drilling Equipment in Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, Saeed Kouti said gas flaring is coming to a permanent end and the fuel will be used as feedstock for the rapidly expanding petrochemical industry, ILNA reported.
“The APG that is collected will be supplied to Bidboland 2 Gas Refinery (14.4 million cubic meters per day) and Marun Petrochemical Company (7mcm/d) that are now under construction,” he said.
APG is a form of natural gas found in deposits of petroleum. It is often released in the air and wasted. When it is burnt off in flares it is referred to as flare gas.
For years Iran has struggled to curb the burning of huge amounts of associated gas, as it is a pollutant, a source of global warming and a waste of a valuable source of energy.
The Majlis in 2017 signed into law a bill to curb the flaring of natural gas to 10% or lower by 2022. Oil and gas rich Iran has committed to a global pact to move away from fossil fuels with the goal of limiting a rise in average global temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius.
“Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (Iran’s largest petrochemical company with 60 plus subsidiaries) and Marun Petrochemical Company will invest $1 billion and $167 million respectively to collect the gases from oilfields in the south,” Kouti noted.
About 68 million cubic meters of flare gas per day are burning in the southern oilfields and initiatives are in place to prevent the emission of 61 mcm/d of the gas in the region, he added.
The 10th Exhibition of Domestic Manufacturing of Petroleum and Drilling Equipment was held November 22-25 with the participation of 250 domestic state-owned and private companies.
