Baku, Azerbaijan, May 22
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Desulphurization unit of Phases 17 and 18 of South Pars gas field is ready to be operational, Behzad Mohammadi, CEO of Iran's Oil Industries' Engineering and Construction (OIEC), said.
The unit is expected to be launched in coming weeks, Mohammadi said, the Iranian oil ministry's SHANA news agency reported May 22.
Development of Phases 17 and 18 of the gas field was awarded to an Iranian consortium consisting of IDRO (48 percent share), IOEC (31 percent share) and OIEC (21 percent).
At the moment, four rows of the phases 17 and 18 refinery is operational, Mohammadi said, adding the refinery's output stood at 36 million cubic meters per day early in May.
Once completed, the phases 17 and 18 of South Pars gas field are planned to produce 50 million cubic meters of natural gas, 80,000 barrels of gas condensate, 400 tons of sulfur per day, and also one million tons of ethane and 1.05 million ton of liquid propane and butane (LPG) per annum.
South Pars, located in southern region, is divided into 24 development phases, and contains 40 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.
Each standard phase of the gas field will produce around 8 billion cubic meters of gas per year, valued at $2 billion.
It covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers are situated in Qatar's territorial waters.
The Islamic Republic produces over 420 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) of gas from South Pars, while the production level is projected to surpass 700 mcm/d by late 2018.