Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 3
By Rahim Zamanov - Trend:
Deputy Oil Minister Roknoddin Javadi said on Mar 3 that Iran has started pumping sweetened gas from phase 12 of the South Pars gas field to the country's national gas network, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported.
Phase 12 of Iran's South Pars gas field started its trial production in February. The phase is currently producing over 12 million cubic meters of gas.
Javadi, who is also the managing director of National Iranian Oil Company, went on to note that the second gas sweetening unit in phases 15 and 16's refinery will come on stream in the coming spring.
"Once the unit comes on stream some 20 to 22 million cubic meters would be added to the country's total natural gas refining capacity.
Javadi said in February 23 that the gas field's oil layer development project has not been halted.
Managing Director of the South Pars Gas Complex, Masoud Hasani, said on February 7, that 202 million cubic meters of gas per day is being pumped from the gas field to Iran's National gas network, Iran's Fars News Agency reported.
"South Pars is one of the most important areas in the country's oil and gas sector," Hasani said.
"The field's total production currently stands at over 280 million cubic meters from which 202 million cubic meters is being pumped to the national gas network," he explained.
Deputy Director of Iranian Offshore Engineering Construction Company Amir Saeed Najafi said on October 27, 2013, that the income from each standard phase of South Pars gas field will reach $8.5 billion.
"By inauguration of each phase Iran earns $11.5 million each day," the IRNA News Agency quoted Najafi as saying.
He went on to note that Iran needs to invest $400 million to complete phases 12, 15, 16, 17 and 18.
Javadi, said on October 23, 2013, that once the remaining 14 phases of the South Pars gas field come on stream, Iran's oil revenues would be raised by $100 million per day.
"So time is a crucial issue in the development of the remaining phases of the giant gas field," the IRNA News Agency quoted Javadi as saying.
"Iran needs to invest $20 to 25 million in the project, so if we want all the phases to come on stream in the next 24 months, one million dollars should be invested in the development project each month," he explained.
"Each phase's revenue is equal to $2.5 billion annually," Javadi added.
He went on to note that the country loses large amounts of money through each day of delay in the development project of the South Pars gas field's remaining phases.
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh previously said the oil ministry's priority in developing South Pars gas field's phases is the old ones.
The country holds the world's third-largest proven oil reserves and the second-largest natural gas reserves.
The country's total in-place oil reserves have been estimated at more than 560 billion barrels, with 140 billion barrels of extractable oil. Moreover, heavy and extra heavy varieties of crude oil account for roughly 70-100 billion barrels of the total reserves.
Edited by S.M.