Iran needs to make up for pressure reduction in its gas fields and prevent a decline in gas output, for which investments worth $22 billion are required in the next eight years, the oil minister said.
During his visit to Bushehr Province on Friday, Javad Owji added that about 50% of Iran’s gas reserves and about 10% of oil reserves are in this province, the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana reported.
“Most of the projects to maintain gas output in the fields, many of which are joint ones, will be planned in Bushehr, South Pars, Nar and Kangan,” he said.
“Planning and studies on increasing pressure in various phases of South Pars will begin soon.”
Estimates show that pressure reduction in the South Pars Gas Field, which Iran shares with Qatar, will start from 2025 and reduce gas production to as low as 400 million cubic meters in 2032, down 100% compared to the present levels.
To address the issue, new wells are expected to be drilled in the field. However, installation of offshore compressor stations in the field is the only long-term viable option to control pressure reduction.
Almost 350 wells in SP are acidized and perforated regularly to keep output as high as possible, but this cannot continue for long and drilling new wells is inevitable.
Output from the giant field is now 700 million cubic meters per day and will reach 1.2 billion cubic meters per day by 2024 and then a downtrend would begin. Production is expected to fall by 28 mcm/d, which is 10 bcm per year, as of 2025.
South Pars meets 80% of Iran’s gas demand and the decline in output will create insurmountable problems for households, industries and thermal power stations.
The huge gas field, which has 24 phases, covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which (South Pars) are in Iran’s territorial waters and the rest (North Dome) is in Qatari waters. It is estimated to contain 8% of the world’s known reserves and approximately 18 billion barrels of condensates.
SP Phase 14 Refinery
Referring to the construction of the refinery in Phase 14 of South Pars Gas Field, Owji said, “The first part of the project will be completed by the end of the current Iranian year [March 20, 2022].”
The first sweetening train of the Phase 14 Refinery is expected to come on stream in the winter.
Units, including steam boilers and gas condensate storage facilities, have become operational in the phase and other sections, namely instrument air unit and gas sweeteners, are near completion. The construction of the facility has made over 85% progress.
The refining unit is equipped with six water boilers with a combined capacity of 160 tons of steam per hour.
Since refineries will no longer be built in the field, Phase 14 Refinery is the last onshore processing facility.
The offshore section of the phase is complete and all the platforms are functioning. It has four platforms, each with a production capacity of 14 million cubic meters of gas per day.
Because the refinery of the phase is still under construction, sour gas from the phase is supplied to refineries in phases 12 and 19.
In addition to 56 million cubic meters of gas, the phase produces 75,000 barrels of gaseous condensates and 400 tons of sulfur per day.
It also supplies LPG and ethane (1 million tons a year) for domestic use and as feedstock to petrochemical companies in the Pars Special Energy Economic Zone in Bushehr Province.
