The development of the giant South Pars Gas Field’s Phase 11 is underway and the phase will soon become operational, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company said.
“The drilling of the last four wells in the phase is in the final stages and after the project’s subsea pipe-laying operations are completed, gas extraction will begin in the near future,” the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana also quoted Mohsen Khojastehmehr as saying.
Phase 11 is the only one among the 24 phases of the joint field in the Persian Gulf, which has not been developed yet. Iran shares the field with Qatar.
The Phase 11 development project included the construction and installation of the jackets and topsides of the phase, drilling 12 wells and laying 115-km-long 32-inch pipelines to transfer mono-ethylene glycol and liquefied natural gas to onshore plants for processing.
About 12,000 meters of drilling operations to dig four production wells have been carried out and it is estimated to reach 15,000 meters upon completion.
An estimated 14 million cubic meters of natural gas per day will be extracted from the phase initially.
A total of $15 million have been invested in the phase and an additional $70 million are needed to complete the project.
When it becomes fully operational, the phase will produce 56.6 million cubic meters of gas per day, plus 75,000 barrels of gas condensate, which will be transferred to refineries in Asalouyeh and Kangan in Bushehr Province.
Field’s Maintenance
Khojastehmehr also noted that the South Pars Gas Field’s maintenance program is on the agenda and acid work of 400 wells in South Pars will be implemented in this regard.
“The drilling 70 wells in South Pars is one of our priority at NIOC to maintain output,” he added.
Close to 350 wells in SP are acidized and perforated regularly to keep production as high as possible, but this cannot continue for long and the drilling of new wells is inevitable.
New wells are expected to make up for pressure reduction in the gas field, which will start from 2025 and reduce gas production to as low as 400 million cubic meters per day in 2032. This is while consumption will then exceed 1.5 billion cubic meters per day.
Output from the giant field is now 700 mcm a day and will reach 1.2 bcm/d by 2024 and then a downtrend would begin.
The initial pressure of the South Pars gas reservoir in the Kangan and Dalan layers, which are located at a depth of 3,000 meters in the Persian Gulf, has decreased from about 5,200 PSI to 3,500 PSI during the past 20 years.
The installation of offshore compressor stations in the field is the only long-term viable option to control pressure reduction.
South Pars accounts for 80% of Iran’s gas need and the decline in output will create insurmountable problems for households, industries and thermal power stations.
The giant gas field is spread over 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran’s territorial waters and the rest is in Qatari waters.
With an estimated 14.2 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves in place plus 18 billion barrels of gas condensate, the Iranian side of the field accounts for 40% of Iran’s total estimated 33.8 tcm of gas reserves and 60% of its gas production.
Iran holds the world’s second largest gas reserves after Russia. According to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, Iran has 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, or 18% of the world’s proven reserves.
“On the eve of winter, more than 1 billion cubic meters of gas are produced on a daily basis so that all people across Iran have no problem regarding gas supply during winter,” Khojastehmehr said.
He also pointed to operations in the Belal field that are being carried out at a fast pace.
Belal, a joint gas field, straddles the maritime boundary between Iran and Qatar in the Persian Gulf. It is located east of the giant South Pars, 90 km southwest of Lavan Island. The field is estimated to hold 170 billion cubic meters of gas and its proven gas condensate in place is more than 100 million barrels.
The project will produce 14 million cubic meters per day of sour gas, which will be transferred to the offshore platform of Phase 12 of South Pars and after processing will be piped to the phase’s onshore refinery via an undersea pipeline.
Raising Oil Output
Khojastehmehr stressed that one of our most important priorities is the maximum production and rapid development of all joint oil and gas fields.
“Last week, trial production from new wells at the Esfand and Sivand oilfields started with a daily figure of 16,000 barrels and soon they will be ready for the official launch,” he added.
Esfand is located 18 kilometers southeast of Siri Island. Prior to the launch of the new well, there were 29 wells operating in the field, producing 60,000 barrels of oil per day.
The field also produces 2.5 million cubic meters of gas per day, which is supplied to Sirri Island. In addition, gas is piped to Kish Island as feedstock for thermal power plants.
The Sivand field is located in the west of Sirri Island 100 km north of the border with the UAE.
