Azerbaijan, Baku, May 31/Trend M. Moezzi
Phase 12 of Iran's joint South Pars oil and gas field will begin producing sour gas by the end of this Iranian year.
Installation of the first deck on Phase 12's oil drilling platform will be finished this summer with the aim to produce a billion square feet of gas, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reports.
Petropars, the company in charge of the project, will finish installing the second deck during the second half of this Iranian year (Iran's solar year ended on March 19). Phase 12's refinery is also scheduled to be finished by the end of the year.
Petropars managing director, Mohammad Javad Shams, cited the company's success in operating South Pars phases 6, 7,8, 15 and 16 and said it was ready to do the same with Phase 12 if asked by the oil ministry.
Eighteen wells have been group drilled in the field and their drilling operations are 70 per cent done. Of the $6.9 billion budgeted for Phase 12, $5.5 billion has been spent so far.
When finished, South Pars' Phase 12 will produce Three billion cubic feet of rich gas (gas with a heavier ratio of hydrocarbons than lean gas) for Iran's national pipeline network and liquefied natural gas (LNG) units.
Iran and Qatar share the nine,700 square kilometer South Pars gas and oil field. Qatar, however, is far ahead of Iran in exploiting the field's resources.Recently, Iran has intensified its South Pars operations.