To redress the imbalance between natural gas supply and demand in winter, construction work to develop the Mokhtar Gas Field and expand its gas storage facility in Yasouj, Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad Province, have started, manager of gas storage projects at the state-run Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company said.
“The initiative, estimated to cost at least $600 million, is aimed at boosting gas storage capacity to help meet rising demand,” Mohammad Zaman Jokar was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
“IGEDC, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Gas Company, has been tasked with implementing the project in three years,” he said, adding that the plan will increase the facility’s storage capacity by at least 1 billion cubic meters.
According to the official, the venture entails drilling 10 assessment and development wells, laying pipelines, setting up a processing unit and building gas injection installations.
“The gas facility will help store as much as 5 million cubic meters on a daily basis between April and October when consumption plummets. IGEDC will be able to extract close to 10 mcm/d of gas from November until March when consumption experiences an upward trend,” he said.
The facility is expected to create jobs for at least 500 people in the deprived region.
Mokhtar Gas Field was discovered three decades ago, but its development had been postponed due to financial constraints.
According to Reza Noshadi, the head of IGEDC, in addition to the Mokhtar facility, the firm is implementing six similar plans nationwide.
“Upon their 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,” he said.
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 and Qezeltappeh Gas Field in Golestan Province are being developed with the help of domestic contractors.
Shourijeh Reserve
Noshadi said MAPNA engineering group has been tasked with the development of Shourijeh reserve.
“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 northern and northeastern parts in the cold seasons when consumption rises considerably 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 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, establishment of gas injection facilities with a capacity of 20 million cubic meters per day and setting up 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 and storage tanks, as well as the manufacture of equipment such as turbo-compressors for pipelines, refineries and processing units.
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.
Geological Formations
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.
Speaking about gas transmission lines, Noshadi said the construction of 1,870 kilometers of large-sized pipes is also on the agenda of IGEDC.
Iran plans to increase its gas production 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.
