IOPTC Ready for Oil Swap
None of Iran's neighbors have pipeline grid as long as its 70,000-kilometer one. But only 14,000 kilometers of this network are serving the transmission of oil and petroleum products. This network is handling 2.22 mb/d of products and a total of 350 million liters a day of crude oil and petroleum products.
Abbas-Ali Jaafari-Nasab, CEO of Iranian Oil Pipelines and Telecommunication Company (IOPTC), says such activity requires round the clock work by this company. IOPTC is serving as a link tying upstream sector to downstream and distribution sectors.
In an interview with Iran Petroleum, Jaafari-Nasab outlines the activities of IOPTC.
Q: Would you please first highlight the field of activity of IOPTC?
A: The pipeline network feeds seven refineries, except for Bandar Abbas and Lavan which are not connected to the grid. Furthermore, the products of seven refineries, except for Shiraz and Lavan, are transmitted through the pipelines. In total, around 67% of crude oil and petroleum products delivery is handled by our company and would cost one-fourth to one-fifth of road and railroad transportation. Of course it noteworthy that their share of petroleum product transmission is less than that of crude oil. At present, 45% of products and 55% of crude oil is transmitted by IOPTC.
Q: In order to be able to continue its activities, IOPTC is required to conduct maintenance regularly. How has it been done in recent years when Iran was under sanctions?
A: The activities of our company are divided into pipelines, pump stations and terminals. Pipelines and transmission sectors need maintenance of equipment and parts. All devices must be in optimal conditions, ranging from pressure gauges to sophisticated equipment like gas turbines.
Maintenance of these sectors is not easy, particularly when most projects are fitted with foreign-made machinery. For the maintenance of this machinery we will need the support of their manufacturers. Gas turbine is a case in point. Airplane engines are like gas turbines. Now imagine that the challenges that have been faced by the country's aviation industry were posed to gas turbines, too. However, in the wake of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, we decided at the Ministry of Petroleum and our company to manufacture the necessary equipment domestically in cooperation with domestic manufacturers and scientific centers. This trend of self-sufficiency started from smaller parts and reached more sophisticated ones like mechanical seals which are necessary for the pumps. At present, more than 80% of the turbines' parts is manufactured domestically.
Domestic manufacturers have recently announced that they are able to produce a complete gas turbine. They have built one or two prototypes which are being commissioned in oil fields. These turbines are working properly.
Q: Do you have any plans to assign equipment manufacturing to domestic companies?
A: In the domestic manufacturing sector, our latest contract pertains to the overhaul of 10 turbines. Our condition for cooperation was that the manufacturing of equipment would start from 30% to reach 70% in the tenth turbine. After the tenth turbine was made, they were able to manufacture 80% of parts needed for a turbine. These turbines have been tested and are now working properly.
Q: So this company contributed to domestic manufacturing during years of sanctions?
A: Yes. Over recent years as sanctions were tightened and relations with foreign suppliers of equipment were reduced, domestic manufacturers were the only ones to be of help. Despite technical complexities, we did not face serious problems like other sectors. There are a total of 164 gas turbines of 16 types in Iran. They are all supported by domestic manufacturers and have been maintained in good conditions.
Q: Is there any specific project to be under way with foreign investment?
A: Sure. A project is defined to substitute electromotors for six pumping facilities and 18 turbines need 65 to 70 million dollars in investment.
Q: Is IOPTC ready to resume oil swap with northern neighbors?
A: Yes, we are fully ready to transfer crude oil from Caspian Sea states. A pipeline built for that purpose could handle 320,000 b/d of crude oil that could be upgraded to 500,000 b/d.
Q: In addition to equipment what other activities have been done with regard to pipelines?
A: We carried out projects for rebuilding and renovating the pipelines. One of them was internal inspection of the pipelines through smart pigging. In this method, after an intelligent examination of the pipeline and submission of relevant reports and analyses, decisions are made about sectors in need of renovation or repair. Then, relevant repair plans are defined for each sector. As you know, Iran's pipelines are ageing and they need reconstruction and renovation. By applying this smart method, the pipelines are inspected on a regular basis so that they would be preserved for optimal operating conditions. This is how we have preserved a pipeline which is 60 years old. This pipeline stretches from Ahvaz to Tehran. Its functioning shows that our activities have been proper.