To ensure stable natural gas supply, Iran Gas Engineering and Development Company is building seven gas storage facilities across the country, managing director of the state-run firm, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Gas Company, said.
“Upon completion over the next three years, NIGC’s gas storage capacity will reach 250 million cubic meters, accounting for 25% of Iran’s daily output,” Reza Noshadi was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news portal.
Giving a breakdown on the venture, he noted that the Shourijeh facility in the northeastern Khorasan Razavi Province, Sarajeh reservoir near the city of Qom, Kashan salt dome in Isfahan Province, Varamin Yortesha water storage facility near Tehran, Bankol gas field in Ilam Province, Mokhtari gas field in Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad Province and Qezeltappeh gas field in Golestan Province are being developed with the help of domestic contractors.
Noshadi said MAPNA Group has been tasked with the development of Shourijeh facility.
“The total capacity of Shourijeh facility, which currently stands at 2.25 billion cubic meters per day, is planned to reach 4.5 bcm per day,” he added.
To supply gas in the north and northeast parts in the cold seasons when consumption rises to a great extent and production declines in the Mozdouran reservoir by 2025, the development project has been planned to increase the capacity of Shourijeh facility, which is the main feedstock supplier of Khangiran Refinery in Sarakhs County, Khorasan Razavi Province.
MAPNA engineering group is expected to complete the project within three years. The project includes drilling 28 production/injection wells, construction of wellhead facilities and pipelines, building a gas collection and distribution center, construction of gas injection facilities with a capacity of 20 million cubic meters per day and building refinery facilities for gas processing with a capacity of 10 mcm per day.
The engineering group is involved in a range of projects, including oil and gas field development, onshore and offshore drilling services, construction of downstream processing units, auxiliary facilities, utility and storage tanks, as well as the design and manufacture of equipment such as turbo-compressors for pipelines, refineries and processing units.
Feasibility Studies
IGEDC is also conducting feasibility studies to build new reservoirs in other areas, namely Babaqir gas field in Ilam Province, Viznehar and Haloush gas fields in Lorestan Province, Nader hydrocarbon reservoir in Bushehr Province and Sarkhoun gas field in Hormozgan Province.
Most oil reservoirs are not suitable for storing gas and this explains why research on other reserves, whose geological formations are made up of salt and water, is on the IGEDC agenda.
The construction of new gas reservoirs is a priority for the Oil Ministry.
Noshadi noted that gas production has increased from 7 mcm per day to 870 mcm per day in the past four decades.
Speaking about gas transmission lines, he said the construction of 1,870 kilometers of large-sized pipes is also on the agenda of IGEDC.
Iran plans to increase its gas output capacity to meet the increasing demand of all sectors.
In case all the requirements of the plans are provided, in the next 10 years, daily gas output will reach 1.5 billion cubic meters from the current 1 bcm.
Iran ranks second after Russia, with about 34 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves.
Noshadi noted that gas production has increased from 7 mcm per day to 870 mcm per day in the past four decades.
