BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 18. A giant offshore gas field, shared between Iran and Qatar - the South Pars field, is largely expected to experience pressure fall-off within five years, Trend reports referring to an analysis of Shana News Agency.
"If there's no action taken, the output drop from the field will reach mcm a year," said the analysis.
South Pars is one of the largest gas reservoirs in the world. It holds 14.2 tcm of gas, about 8 percent of world’s total gas reserves. Iran is currently recovering 705 mcm/d of gas from its own section of the field.
According to the analysis, as a preventive measure, Iran’s Petroleum Ministry proposed various options to handle the problem. Among them are: regular planning to drill new wells, acidizing existing wells and designing gas compression platforms with a view to maintaining pressure.
For example, Iranian Deputy Oil Minister and the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Mohsen Khojasteh Mehr recently said that Iran plans to drill 35 new wells at the field. According to Khojasteh Mehr, a program for drilling new wells in the South Pars gas field has been prepared.
He also said that in order to increase production from the South Pars gas field, well acidizing operations will be carried out at some 400 wells.
Also, as the analysis said, National Iranian Oil Company is planning studies on onshore and offshore platforms as a preventive measure.
While Iran is worried about the possible pressure fall-off, the development of the field continues. In particular, Iran's Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) is expected to sign a research contract with Iran's Nargan Company on increasing the pressure at the field. The contract includes a number of packages. Following research, the mentioned programs in the contract will be launched.