Tehran, Iran, Jan. 30
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Iran has signed a contract for buying a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel to start oil production at the oil layer of the South Pars gas field, which is shared by Iran and Qatar.
An FPSO unit is a floating vessel used by the offshore oil and gas industry for the processing of hydrocarbons and for storage of oil. An FPSO vessel is designed to receive hydrocarbons produced from nearby platforms or subsea template, process them, and store oil until it can be offloaded onto a tanker or, less frequently, transported through a pipeline.
FPSOs are preferred in frontier offshore regions as they are easy to install, and do not require a local pipeline infrastructure to export oil.
Raham Qasemi, the managing director of Petroiran Development Company, said that the company has paid the first installment, Iran's SHANA News Agency reported on Jan. 30.
According to the official, the vessel will be delivered to Iran in 21 months.
"Some wells have been drilled in the field so far and a few others will be drilled until the vessel is ready," he noted.
The former Managing Director of Pars Oil and Gas Company Mohammadreza Zahiri said in October that without a FPSO vessel, tapping the oil layer of South Pars gas field is impossible.
Iran still doesn't extract any oil from the oil layer of South Pars/North Dome joint gas field, while Qatar is tapping the field.
The South Pars oil layer was discovered in 1988. Ten years later the first exploratory well was drilled. But the work halted for six years and finally the project was transferred to PetroIran Company in 2005.