The Kharg
Oil Terminal is one of Iran's oil exports terminals where the Kharg operational
center is located.
Abbas
Rajabkhani, manager of the Kharg operational center at the Iran Offshore Oil
Company (IOOC), says oil production in the Kharg area has not reduced and oil
exports are under way despite the re-imposition of US sanctions.
IOOC is
among leading offshore oil and gas production companies in Iran. It operates
development and production at oil and gas fields located in the Kharg,
Bahregan, Siri, Lavan, Kish and Qeshm operational centers. The Kharg center is
of paramount significance as it houses the Abuzar, Dorood and Foroozan fields.
The Kharg center accounts for half of IOOC oil output. The oil exported from
this area with API gravity of 34 and 35 is known under Foroozan brand.
Production
Capacity
Rajabkhani
touched on such operations as workover of wells, lifting and drilling new oils,
saying production from this area had increased in the first half of the current
Iranian year.
He added
that the Foroozan output is expected to increase by the end of the current
calendar year on March 20.
Regarding
the quality of produced oil at this area, he said: "The oil currently
being exported from Dorood-3 is of high quality and needs no processing."
Furthermore,
he added, the activation of DCS-based monitoring system on the Foroozan and
Dorood-3 platforms has helped enhance the quality of oil produced by these
fields and practically oil flow has not stopped.
Rajabkhani
touched on the Foroozan oil output, saying: "Since Saudi Arabia's share of
this jointly owned field is higher than Iran's, it will naturally recover more
oil. Therefore, given its share, Iran is not lagging behind."
Foroozan is
located 100 kilometers southeast of Kharg Island. It is known as Marjan in
Saudi Arabia.
In Iran's
segment of the field, oil is being transferred via a subsea pipeline, measuring
20 inches in diameter, to onshore facilities for processing and storage.
Oil Pits
Gathering
Rajabkhani
said gathering oil pits has been among environmental projects under way in the
Kharg area.
The project
was implemented with a view to purifying industrial wastes, he said, adding
that industrial wastes used to deposit in oil pits.
"But
now it is possible to separate oil and water from the wastes," said
Rajabkhani.
"After
separation and the flow of pure water into the sea, the oil in the pit will be
evacuated and the sludge remaining there will be auctioned off to be used in
such projects as bitumen," he said.
"There
have been drilled some wells in underground layers to absorb water accumulated
on the platforms. That would help avoid water wastage and we can restore water
to the storage tank," he added.
Rajabkhani
said that the first well in the Abuzar field had been drilled, while more wells
are coming online over the coming two to three years.
Kharg Island
is located 57 kilometers northwest of Bushehr and 28 kilometers from Genaveh
Port. The island is among the most important oil export terminals in Iran.
Another advantage with this area is the location of the Abuzar, Dorood and
Foroozan oil fields. About 270 wells have so far been drilled there, 65 of
which are producing oil.
In a bid to
improve the quality of its export oil service, IOOC has implemented certain
procedural reforms there, including the quality of oil exported form Dorood-3.
Oil
production from Abuzar is not easy due to tar sands. The existence of tar sand
in oil will damage oil installations, thereby affecting production. Any loss in
production would impose hundreds of thousands of dollars on the operating
company.
The small
size of pebbles in the Abuzar oil field causes them to enter the well stream,
causing corrosion of pipes and valves.
To resolve
this problem, the sand management technology has been employed because using
this tool in Iran has become indigenized.
Sand
management is an operating concept in which traditional sand control means are
not normally applied and production is managed through monitoring and control
of well pressures, fluid rates and sand influx. Sand management has proven to
be an effective tool in North Sea oil and gas production wells.
Sand
management has proven to be workable, and has led to the generation of highly
favorable well skins because of self-cleanup associated with the episodic sand
bursts that take place. These low skins have, in turn, led to higher
productivity indexes, and each of the wells where sand management has been
successful has displayed increased oil or gas production rates.
After
certain procedures, the quality of oil produced by Dorood is being delivered to
export terminals.
Courtesy of
Iran Petroleum
Follow us on
Twitter @ SouthPSEEZ