Iran started injecting gas condensates to Soroush field in its Persian Gulf waters from the South Pars joint field on Monday.

The Soroush gas field in located on Kharg Island, Bushehr province.

The operation was undertaken with cooperation of National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) and coordination of Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) by dispatching “Forest” tanker to Soroush field to inject gas condensates to its wells.

The operation was successfully accomplished for the first time in the history of Iran oil industry.

It was aimed at paving the way for continuation of gas production in the joint field and increasing the industry’s flexibility in critical conditions.

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The offshore platform of Phase 16 of southern Iranian South Pars Field has come back to production, according to an official with Pars Oil and Gas Field.

The platform stopped gas excavation a year ago due to damages to parts of its pipelines stretching 110 kilometers on the seabed.

Alireza Ebadi said that the damaged pipelines have been repaired and the platform came back to production on Friday with a capacity of 500 million cubic feet.

In an exclusive interview with IRNA on Oct 20, Managing-Director of the South Pars Field Hadi Hashemzadeh Farhang said that once Iran completes the new phase of South Pars Field, it will outpace Qatar in gas excavation from the shared field by 120 mcm/d.

The official said that Iran finally won the “breathtaking marathon” over gas excavation in the shared field with Qatar.

Now 23 years after the South Pars development project inaugurated, the field, having 12 refineries, has turned into the biggest gas refinery complex of the world.

With the inauguration of phases 2 and 3 in 2001, the field used to produce some 56 mcm/d of gas which has now risen to 700 mcm/d, he added.

He said that what doubles Iran’s achievement in outpacing Qatar in the excavation of gas from the shared field is that only one-third of the area of the field is located within the Iranian territory while the rest two-thirds are in the Qatari waters.

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All the refineries processing South Pars gas output are operating normally and there is no drop in their output despite the coronavirus outbreak, an official with the South Pars Gas Complex said.

Ali Ahmadi, the complex’s caretaker of coordination and production control, said, “With the operation of South Pars Gas Complex refineries, in order to achieve sustainable and maximum production in the special conditions of the coronavirus outbreak, appropriate measures at the level of refinery operation management have been done.”

He added, “According to the health instructions of the Ministry of Petroleum, the necessary equipment have been procured for the presence of colleagues, and gas production is constantly being monitored to achieve maximum production and sustainability.”

The official also underlined the importance of gas condensate production and continuous delivery of the item to consumers, adding, “The production situation of this product is always monitored and sent to the relevant bases.”

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All of the platforms of Iran’s South Pars gas field are operating with 100 percent efficiency, IRNA reported, quoting the operation and production manager of Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) which is in charge of the development of the field.

“Fortunately, since the beginning of the previous year the efficiency of these platforms [South Pars operational platforms] has exceeded 100 percent and we are in a very good condition regarding safe and sustainable gas production,” Alireza Ebadi said.

He noted that the POGC health committee is holding daily meetings to monitor the health and safety of the company’s workforce, adding that “periodical meetings are also held for maintaining output and solving the problems regarding the platforms sustainable production.”

“All employees are monitored daily and the necessary actions are performed with great sensitivity and in a concise manner,” he stressed.

The last offshore platform of Iran’s South Pars gas field (shared with Qatar in the Persian Gulf) was installed on its designated spot in early March.

The last offshore platform of Iran’s South Pars gas field (shared with Qatar in the Persian Gulf) was installed on its designated spot in early March.

As one of the world’s biggest gas reserves, South Pars gas field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which, called South Pars, are in Iran’s territorial waters. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, called North Dome, are situated in Qatar’s territorial waters.

The field is estimated to contain a significant amount of natural gas, accounting for about eight percent of the world’s reserves, and approximately 18 billion barrels of condensate. The field is divided into 24 standard phases.

South Pars is divided into 24 standard phases of development in the first stage. all of the phases except for the phase 11 are fully operational at the moment.

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Iran on Saturday installed the last offshore platform of phase 14 of South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf to increase its production by 33 percent.

The giant structure was carried to the South Pars field aboard Barge 124FLB in the weekend, after 98 percent completion in Iran Marine Industry Company (SADRA).

After a week-long wait for the weather to go steady, the mega platform D14 cut through water in the Persian Gulf and docked on the gas condensate depository.

Installation of accessories like connection bridge and torch will begin soon to operationalize the platform which will increase gas production of phase 14 of South Pars field by 14.2 million cubic meters per day to reach 56 million m3/day in total, according to South Pars Phase 14 Development Plan Executive Mohammad Mahdi Tavassolipour.

He also said that the platform, as a part of offshore section of the Phase 14, will become operational and join the production circuit by the next two months.

The offshore section is currently producing 42 million cubic meters of gas every day through three platforms A14, B14, C14.

Once the new platform D14 is ready to operate, the Phase 14 of South Pars filed will produce 50 million m3/day of sweet gas, 75,000 bpd of condensate, 400 tonnes/day of Sulfur and an annual amount of one million tonnes of LNG and Ethan.

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The output from the giant South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf has been doubled in the past five years, the managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company said.

“Iran is now extracting around 600 million cubic meters per day of natural gas from the field, twice the amount five years ago,” Mohammad Meshkinfam said.

“Except for Phase 11, other phases including 13, 14, 22, and 24 have come on stream,” the official added.

He noted that the company has built 13 refineries, drilled 267 wells, and laid 3,500 kilometers of subsea pipes.

According to Meshkinfam, the field’s daily output will soar to 850 million cubic meters of natural gas, one million barrels of condensates, 10 million tons of LPG and 5,000 tons of sulfur when it is in full operation.

South Pars, which is located in the Persian Gulf and shared between Iran and Qatar, is the world’s largest gas reserve. It holds an estimated 51 trillion cubic meters of in-situ natural gas and some 50 billion barrels of condensates.

The megaproject is being developed in 24 phases.

According to an estimate, Iran’s recoverable gas stands at 10 trillion cubic meters and Qatar’s is estimated to be over 25 trillion cubic meters.

Meshkinfam had earlier said that “more than $70 billion have been spent on the gas project over the last 15 years and the field requires between $20 billion and $30 billion in additional spending to become fully operational.”

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Iran‘s rich sour gas production in the supergiant South Pars Gas Field in the southern Iranian province of Bushehr will increase 56 million cubic meters per day in the year to March 2019, said the managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC).

Mohammad Meshkinfam noted that Iran extracted an average of 550 million cubic meters of natural gas from the field, which is shared with Qatar, during this winter, adding by late March, gas recovery from Platform A of Phase 14 of the gas field will reach 14.2 million cubic meters per day, Shana reported.

Speaking during a visit to onshore refinery facilities of the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf, the POGC chief said that Platform C of the same phase will begin operation within three months following the inauguration of the first platform.

Platforms of phases 13, 22, 23 and 24 of the giant gas field, each with a gas extraction capacity of 14.2 million cubic meters, will go on stream in the year to mid-March 2019.

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National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) announced that negotiations with Denmark‘s Maersk Group over the development of South Pars oil production project is underway.

“Parallel talks have started with other multinationals to undertake the megaproject,” said Karim Zobeidi, the head of a special department at NIOC that oversees the performance of reservoirs, ISNA reported.

Pointing to the $7.45 billion deal between the French energy major Total and the Copenhagen-based giant that was concluded last month, Zobeidi said, “Because Total has purchased Maersk’s oil and gas business, we should follow the talks more prudently.”

According to the official, the French giant is carrying out operations on Qatar’s oil layer in the joint oilfield with Iran in the Persian Gulf that is why NIOC ought to conduct negotiations with tact so as to not lose ground to the Arab state.

A POGC official has reported on the signing of a contract with a French firm for conducting pressure drop studies in South Pars joint gas field.

Maersk has already drilled more than 300 wells and extracted more than 1 billion barrels of oil for Qatar from the Qatari section of South Pars, which is known as the North Dome. According to reports, French energy major Total S.A. took over drilling and production operations in the North Dome from Maersk last year.

Highlighting the importance of collaboration with foreign firms to develop the second and third development phases of the field’s oil layer, the official noted that the layer’s complicated geological structure necessitates qualified companies to implement enhanced oil recovery techniques from the beginning of their operation.

“Pars Oil and Gas Company, as the contractor of South Pars oil layer, has held talks with a number of international companies, yet no agreement has been signed,” Zobeidi said, adding that Schlumberger Ltd, the world’s leading oilfield services provider, was also reportedly interested in drilling the South Pars oil layer, but it failed to reach agreement with NIOC.

According to Roham Qasemi, managing director of Petroiran Development Company, cumulative crude oil output from the field’s oil layer has surpassed 2.5 million barrels over roughly six months.

Iran began to extract crude oil from South Pars in March using FPSO Cyrus, a floating production storage and offloading vessel in March. The FPSO was reportedly built in Singapore and cost $300 million.

“Maersk’s operational capacity and know-how to drill horizontal oil wells as deep as 10,000 meters are key to its success in developing the South Pars oil layer, as we are still deprived of such expertise,” Qasemi said.

Underscoring the country’s domestic capacity to develop the project’s first phase, he added that Iranian experts drilled 39,000 meters of offshore well in addition to installing a 2,500-ton platform.

Asked about employing another FPSO in the second phase, Qasemi noted that Petroiran, POGC and the Danish conglomerate are holding technical talks about the issue.

Iran aims to stabilize production from the SP layer at 25,000 barrels per day and gradually boost output to 55,000-60,000 bpd.

NIOC plans to employ enhanced oil recovery methods to boost the extraction rate in fields by 35%. South Pars oil layer is located 130 kilometers off Iran’s coast in the Persian Gulf with an estimated 7 billion barrels of oil in place, but it is hard to put an accurate estimate on the volume unless more exploratory wells are drilled.

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Iran’s production of crude oil from the oil layer of the supergiant South Pars Gas Field (SPOL) has exceeded 2.5 million barrels.

The country is planning to send the layer’s 5th oil consignment in the coming days, said Fardin Asadi, operator of SPOL’s development project.

He said a 500,000-barrel crude oil consignment is being loaded for export in the current week.

He said production from the layer’s 7 wells has been planned to maximize production life of the reserves while maximizing production.

Asadi further said that injection operations will begin by March 2018 in order to stabilize reservoir pressure of the layer.

The layer is estimated to roughly hold over 6 billion barrels of oil with over 10% recovery rate that can be enhanced to beyond 35% by adopting EOR and IOR techniques.

More exact estimation of the layer needs spudding more exploration wells, he said.

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Gholam-Reza Manouchehri has experienced working both in offshore and onshore. He is well familiar with subsea pipelaying and refinery construction. He also knows sanctions and lack of finance.

Manouchehri has a brilliant background in companies like Petropars and Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company (IOEC), both involved in the development of South Pars gas field.

He is now serving as the deputy managing director of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) for development and engineering.
The exclusive interview he has granted to “Iran Petroleum” is as follows:

Q: How do you see the future of South Pars gas field?
A: Except for Phase 11, other phases of South Pars are forecast to have been completed within two years or at most 30 months. Phase 11 development is expected to be finished in four years. South Pars will definitely play a major role in the supply of gas and condensate in the country. After remaining phases are developed in South Pars, gas condensate production in this jointly owned field will reach 1 mb/d.
Q: Could you name the future challenges to the South Pars development?
A: The pressure fall-off in gas and gas condensate will be one of the main challenges in this field.

Q: What could be done to cope with this problem?
A: Using pressure booster compressors could be an effective measure. Furthermore, reservoir studies must be carried out more seriously and more comprehensively. Changes in the condition and behavior of reservoir and forecasting future conditions are also important. Other layers of South Pars should be also studied. Transferring gas from adjoining fields in a way to avoid a quick fall-off in the gas pressure and volume of gas condensate production is also another measure. Pressure fall-off is a natural phenomenon, but we have to try to lengthen the production plan.

Q: So South Pars will need more efforts and activities in the future.
A: That’s true. Drilling in this joint field will be based on studies in the future. The type of drilling may change. Moreover, there is much sensitivity with regard to the jointly owned parts of this field. Since the Qatari side is recovering gas along with us we will naturally see more problems.

Q: Do you think there is technology for preserving production in Iran?
A: This technology is accessible and naturally in the future we will be able to increase the share of Iranian companies in implementing such projects. The more we go ahead, the higher gas and gas condensation will cost, and we have to recognize that production costs in South Pars will go up.

Q: How much does production cost in South Pars now?
A: Implementation of each phase of South Pars under the current circumstances is estimated around $2.5 billion and our production costs stand at two or three percent of the value of investment. It is a low figure, but will increase in the future.

Q: How much do you think this increase will be?
A: It depends on the conditions of upcoming years and the amount of additional investment. But undoubtedly the costs of installations will increase. Therefore, we cannot announce any accurate figure. However, it will most probably be twice.

Q: Are you happy with the current management of South Pars output maintenance?
A: Regarding the maintenance of onshore facilities, NIOC is largely experienced and we have no serious problem in this regard. However, we need to improve standards of production, reduce flare gases and minimize environmental damage. For this purpose, we need investment. Moreover, in some refineries we need to implement a complementary procedure to eliminate flare gas.

Q: What about offshore maintenance?
A: In this sector we need to pay more attention and apply higher standards because in the offshore sector our operation models do not fully comply with international conditions. At the beginning, our platforms were designed to be unmanned, but they are manned now. Therefore, we have to take into account this fact that such facilities are exposed to more degradation and more difficult to accede. We have to run South Pars which has a 30-year to 50-year future.

Q: How do you assess South Pars’ role in empowering domestic contractors?
A: Iranian contractors became international thanks to South Pars. The fact is that South Pars has been instrumental in upgrading domestic industry and project management mechanism, development of contracting system and engineering services companies. In the past we often heard that Isfahan Steel Mill was a good model in terms of concrete pouring and molding. But South Pars has played a major role in developing EPC knowhow, petroleum engineering, refinery construction and equipment manufacturing. We cannot say that all this happened first in South Pars, but given the scale of work, many industrial plants, factories and contracting companies emerged and grew under the aegis of South Pars and then they spread across the country. I can say that South Pars improved technical standards and raised the expectations of managers with regard to the quality of work. Moreover, a valuable interaction was created between Iranian and international companies at different levels of activity.
In fact, after implementation of phases 1 to 8 of South Pars by Iranian and foreign companies, the top role in phases 12 to 16 was assigned to Iranian companies. Although we had problems with some of these projects due to high costs and delays, Iranian companies finally proved their capabilities in drilling, offshore and onshore operations and pipelaying.

Q: In case you are asked to name several Iranian companies that have been empowered through their activities in South Pars, which companies will you name?
A: Undoubtedly Petropars is at the top of them. This company managed to play the role of a developer. OIEC (Oil Industries Engineering and Construction Company) as an EPC company, IOEC in offshore EPC and some private companies are also among them. Sadra has also shown good growth although it delayed some of thes projects due to domestic problems and has so far failed to deliver platforms for phases 13, 14 and 22-24. Nevertheless, generally speaking, Iranian companies have fared well in the development of South Pars.

Q: Would you please cite some of the measures taken first in South Pars?
A: Drilling, deepwater drilling, subsea pipelaying, and project macro-management.

Q: Once South Pars phases have been completed, provided that unbridled consumption is contained, which role could Iran play in the gas market?
A: After completing South Pars phase development, we will have the chance to invest in LNG sector. Of course, it is already possible. [But] then we can enhance our gas exports to the region.

Q: What have been the challenges of South Pars in recent years?
A: Investment, project mismanagement, supply of equipment and commodities were among these challenges. But these problems have been resolved after the implementation of the JCPOA and the [ensuing] lifting of sanctions.

Q: How do you assess cooperation with foreign companies in the development of South Pars?
A: During years of sanctions, NIOC and its staff demonstrated their capabilities in developing oil and gas fields, particularly the jointly owned South Pars field. During this period, phases 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 were developed. Gas production capacity in South Pars currently stands at more than 480 mcm/d, which is expected to reach 580 mcm/d early next [calendar] year. As far as recovery from South Pars is concerned we have to continue producing gas and gas condensate more smartly. In order to have access to cutting edge technologies we need to cooperate with service companies and international oil companies (IOCs) so that they would bring capital, technology and management into the country.

Q: You were manager in both Petropars and IOEC and you have experience of offshore and onshore sectors. How do you assess your own performance at South Pars?
A: I thank God for my contribution to the development of these fields from the very beginning. I joined the project when Phase 1 was in its final day of development; I managed development of phases 6 to 8. I also managed development of Phase 12 half way, as I was CEO of Petropars and project manager. When I left this company all contracts had already been signed. The contract for Phase 19 of South Pars was signed when I was at Petropars. Furthermore, when I was IOEC manager, seven to eight platforms were finally completed and installed.

Q: Would you please name five influential people in the South Pars development?
A: Certainly Mr. Zangeneh (minister of petroleum) will occupy the ranks one to three. He is followed by Misters [Akbar] Torkan and [Mehdi] Mirmoezzi. But Mr. Zangeneh was the pioneer of South Pars and he was the one who brought about fundamental changes in the petroleum industry.

By Roya Khaleqi/ Courtesy of Iran Petroleum

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