Baku, Azerbaijan, June 28
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran will triple drilling speed at Phase 13 of the South Pars gas field by commissioning two new drilling rigs, said Payam Motamed, the Phase 13 development project manager.
The second drilling rig will start operation this week, Motamed said, adding that the new rigs are projected to drill 11 wells, Iran's Shana news agency reported on June 28.
Another drilling rig, which is owned by the North Drilling Company, will start operation within the next weeks, he noted.
Drilling operations at Phase 13 of the gas field have progressed by 60 percent, he added.
The phase 13 of the South Pars field is projected to yield 50 million cubic meters of gas, 80,000 barrels of gas condensates, 2900 metric tons of LPG, and 400 metric tons of sulfur per day.
Ghobad Choobdar, the managing director of SADRA Company, which is tasked with drilling operations in the gas field, said June 17 that natural gas will be injected from the phase 13 of the gas field to the national gas network by September 2016.
SADRA is projected to build four offshore platforms, each with a capacity to produce 500 million cubic feet of gas, he said.
The development plan of the phase 13 has envisaged drilling of 38 wells. Drilling operations are underway by a consortium comprising Petro Paydar Iranian, SADRA, and MAPNA both in onshore and offshore sections.
South Pars gas field's total production currently stands at over 280 million cubic meters, 202 million cubic meters of which is being pumped to the national gas network.
The South Pars gas field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran's territorial waters in the Gulf.
The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, i.e. North Dome, are in Qatar's territorial waters.