Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9
By Dalga Khatinoglu - Trend:
Iran would boost gas sweetening capacity by 75mcm/din the current Iranian fiscal year, which ends on March 20, compared the last year.
According to a report from the Iranian Oil Ministry's department for supervision over hydrocarbon reserves, the country's gas sweating capacity would increase by 200mcm/din total, compared to mid-2013, when Hassan Rouhani's administration started work.
Phases 12 and 15,16 of South Pars gas field were completed during the current fiscal year (FY), while phases 17 and 18 started producing of gas with half capacity.
During 10 months of FY, these phases produced 103mcm/d of gas in average and after completing phases 17 and 18, the figure would reach 180 mcm/d.
Last week, phase 19 also started production with half capacity.
South Pars produced 263.8mcm/d of enriched gas in Iranian fiscal year 1392 (March 2013-March 2014), which rose to 306.4 mcm/d in the year ended in March 2015.
In the first 10 months of the current Iranian fiscal year, the enriched gas production capacity stood at 407.5mcm/d. However, the field's sweet gas production stood at 331mcm/dand the country's total refined gas stood at 474mcm/d during 10 months of FY. Therefore, South Pars shared about 66 percent of Iran's total sweet gas production.
The managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company, Ali-Akbar Sha'banpour, has said that some 356mcm/d of gas will be extracted during current FY from South Pars in average.
South Pars: present and planned output
|
Phase |
Sweet gas production in 10 months of FY (Mcm/d) |
Mcm/d at plateau |
Completed by Jan 2016 |
Actual/forecast* start |
|
1-10 |
228 |
250 |
100% |
2003-2010 |
|
11 |
0 |
50 |
0% |
2020+ |
|
12 |
36 |
80 |
100% |
2015 |
|
13 |
0 |
50 |
75.4% |
2018+ |
|
14 |
0 |
50 |
61% |
2020+ |
|
15&16 |
57.6 |
50 |
100% |
2015 |
|
17&18 |
9.8 |
50 |
92.2% |
2016 |
|
19 |
0 |
50 |
90% |
2017 |
|
20&21 |
0 |
50 |
83.4% |
2017 |
|
22-24 |
0 |
50 |
79.8% |
2020+ |
|
Total |
331 |
730 |
Some 22.5mcm/d of gas has been exported on average over the 9-month period, but the figure is expected to rise in winter. Iran exported 27mcm/d of gas during last FY.
Iran introduced a new contract in November which offers 21 gas and 29 oil fields to foreign entities. The oil fields are estimated to add 200mcm/d of associated gas while the enriched gas production from the gas fields is estimated at 380mcm/d.
Some of the projects can become operational by 2020, but the majority of them might be inaugurated by mid-2025 or later.
Dalga Khatinoglu is an expert on Iran's energy sector and head of Trend Agency'sIran news service