Tehran, Iran, August 1
By Mehdi Sepahvand -- Trend:
If the extraction of gas from the South Pars field continues as it is, the gas will experience decline in pressure by 2023, IRNA news agency reported August 1.
From that time on, the extraction of gas from South Pars will be possible only by using compressors, the report said.
However, using compressors can be effective for only 10 years, and therefore it is expected that by 2033, Iran will completely discard the field, unless technological advancements bring new extraction methods.
The South Pars is the world's biggest gas reservoir. It holds 50 percent of Iran's and eight percent of the world's gas reserves.
The field is shared by Iran and Qatar. Iran's part of the field holds 13.3 trillion cubic meters of gas in place and 19 billion barrels of oil condensates, of which 9 billion barrels is extractable.
After the new findings about the life of South Pars, Iran said it has cancelled the plan to install a fourth platform at Phase 12 of the field.
Phase 12 has been dubbed Iran's biggest development phase of the South Pars.
Hadi Mir-Bagheri, an official with the Iranian Petropars oil and gas company, said the fourth platform has been put off agenda since the field cannot produce gas for long.
He added that the maximum output of the phase is estimated to stand at 2.5 billion cubic feet a day.