Highly
prioritized by Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum, the field has seen its output grow
from 282 mcm/d in 2013 to above 600 mcm/d now. Such output hike under the aegis
of efforts by the Ministry of Petroleum allayed people’s concerns with winter
cold and fuel shortage. However, oil and gas managers remain concerned as
widespread activities have got under way for the overhaul of refineries and gas
production units to work efficiently in cold months.
The overhaul
of South Pars refineries was carried out during 156 days, starting in April.
The 9th, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 6th, 8th and 10th refineries were overhauled.
This annual
process is carried out for technical inspection, gauging reparation needs, and
applying methodology of management of physical assets by choosing equipment
based on technical data and scientific calculations for the purpose of
optimizing costs.
Wintertime
gas supply, which mainly depends on the development of South Pars gas field,
reached stability with the startup of new phases that would increase natural
gas production. However, since gas consumption increases uncontrollably, gas
production needs to increase on an annual basis. Therefore, gas production
companies are required to bring their output to a specific level.
Furthermore,
according to plans, in addition to the regular annual recovery from other
phases, 28 mcm/d (1 bcf/d) of sour gas would be recovered from SP22-24 for
winter fuel supply.
Except for
SP11, all other blocks located in Iran’s section of South Pars, which is shared
with Qatar, are complete. SP13, SP22 and SP24 are set to become operational by
next March and part of SP14 will be completed next year. By March 2020, all
South Pars phases, except for SP11, will have been completed. Therefore, the
process of completion of South Pars phases is under way and completion of this
puzzle will boost gas supply in Iran.
**Latest
Developments
CEO of Pars
Oil and Gas Company (POGC) Mohammad Meshkinfam said SP13 and SP22-24 would be
producing 56 mcm/d of sour gas during winter.
He said that
POGC has a production and a development division, working in parallel.
“The
production division is tasked with producing gas from South Pars, which is
vital for National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and the entire country,” said
Meshkinfam.
“In the
refinery section of SP13, two sweetening trains are waiting to receive offshore
gas and one train is ready to come online. In the refinery section of SP22-24,
two sweetening trains are ready to receive sour gas from the offshore section
of these two phases. In total, the first stage of each of these phases, which
includes a 28mcm/d production chain, is to become operational before winter
this year,” he added.
Meshkinfam
said the offshore sector’s activities were among other links in the completion
of production chain.
“Currently,
in most wells of the aforesaid gas projects, perforation operations are under
way. After the end of these operations, the wells of these projects will be
ready for gas production,” he said.
He said in
the drilling and perforation phase, there must be focus upon safety principles.
“Committing
any mistake when the well is reaching production will be harmful and
irreparable,” he added.
**SP13
Refinery Connected to IGAT6, IGAT9
The manager
of SP13 development said the refinery of this phase had been connected to Iran
Gas Trunkline 6 (IGAT6) and IGAT9.
Payam Motamed
highlighted the simultaneous, cohesive and coherent operation of the refining
and offshore sections for the purpose of expediting the development of SP13.
“Thanks to
efforts by service workers of the contractor and client teams, a pipeline
carrying sweet gas from the refinery of SP13 to SP1 and SP2 was done
successfully,” he said.
He added
that drilling, scrubbing, cutting, fit-up, welding and testing had been done by
SP13 group. These operations lasted four days.
The refinery
of SP13 is now able to send sweet gas to IGAT6 and IGAT9.
Asked about
arrangements made to prevent pressure buildup in IGAT6 due to the operation of
several refineries on Site 2, he said: “IGAT9 will carry the excessive gas from
the refineries of Site 2 to IGAT3 and IGAT10 of Site 1.”
Motamed said
that the refinery of SP13 is expected to come on-stream in December. Once the
last train of sweetening is launched at the refinery, it will receive 1 bcf/d
of sour gas from offshore wells to supply winter fuel.
**SP14
Platform Gas Recovery
The manager
of SP14 development said sour gas recovery from the second gas platform of SP14
began after the launch of 14C satellite platform in the Persian Gulf.
Hamid-Reza
Masoudi said the startup of the second offshore platform of SP14 had been
successful, adding that rich sour gas recovery capacity from 14C was 500 mcf/d
(14.1 mcm/d).
“As it had
been earlier promised, the startup of the second gas platform of SP14
development, the combined gas production from the offshore section of this
project has reached 1 bcf/d or 28.2 mcm/d. Furthermore, the first stage of
development of the offshore section of SP14 became fully operational,” he said.
Masoudi
referred to the end of pipe laying operations for the transfer of sour gas and
injection of glycol from 14C satellite platform to 14A main platform.
“The sour
gas recovered from this platform is carried to the refineries at Pars 2
industrial zone in the Kangan area before being fed into national trunkline,”
he said.
The current
Iranian calendar year has seen 30,000 villages and 1,150 cities connected to
national gas grid. That means 99% of Iran’s urban population and 85% of its
rural population are enjoying gas.
Courtesy of
Iran Petroleum
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