Q: What happened in the management of projects to give rise to a two-fold increase in the production capacity of this joint field?
A: Experience and efficacy are of high significance in management. Without a powerful management of projects and an all-out view of development of megaprojects like South Pars we would have definitely not seen such development. In fact, I believe that a qualified client can save the project. But an incompetent client who does not know how to manage a project will push the project towards debacle. We were totally disappointed with phases 17 and 18 of South Pars because the client and the contractor were not fully aware of the issue. There was no idea and no real planning to be acceptable by the client and the contractor. But since 2013, a cohesive management structure took shape at the Ministry of Petroleum, NIOC and POGC in order to deal with the South Pars projects. That was when projects started coming online one after another.
Q: How effective were the sanctions on the implementation of projects?
A: There is no doubt that the sanctions led to numerous problems for the procurement of commodities needed for the implementation of projects because we had to purchase some equipment via intermediaries and even at much higher prices. That increased the price of implementation of projects for us and prolonged implementation. That is the case while the contract for phases 17 and 18 of South Pars was signed in 2006 and this phase was to become operational before international sanctions were imposed. We could finish phases 12, 15, 16, 17 and 18 before the sanctions were imposed, but implementation of these projects was delayed due to the absence of cohesive management and when the 11th administration prioritized the implementation of these projects financial shortcomings and subsequently shortage of commodities and equipment was resolved. Undoubtedly, management of South Pars should be dynamic due to Iran's special conditions in the region. But that was not the case at that time; therefore, a heavy financial burden was imposed on the country. That widened the distance between us and the Qataris in terms of recovery from this field. Even European countries did not imagine that we, Iranians, would be able to implement megaprojects in South Pars because they know quite well the difficulty of implementation of these projects. However, we did so.
Q: How did the JCPOA implementation affect the projects?
A: Thanks to the JCPOA implementation, we had no longer to receive our needed commodities through intermediaries. Moreover, the problem regarding commodities that had been purchased in the past but were blocked due to sanctions was also resolved. Commodity procurement plays a fundamental role in the implementation of oil projects specifically because some of commodities need to be installed before others and coincidentally these basic commodities had been blacklisted. Imagine that we had paid for propane refrigeration compressors to be installed at refineries, but importing them coincided with the imposition of sanctions. This equipment was blocked for six years, but today we have them. I can say that the way has been cleared after the JCPOA implementation.
Q: How has the presence of contractors in South Pars affected their capabilities?
A: Twenty years ago, when Iranian contractors started their work in South Pars they were facing incredible difficulties for launching offshore and onshore projects. In many cases, even the implementation of Phase 1 of South Pars by Iranian contractors was more of a dream. But today you can see that our contractors are easily active in the offshore sector of all activities, ranging from the construction of gas platforms for South Pars to offshore installation, implementation and pipe-laying. Today Iranian companies can easily launch a subsea 2,500-km-long pipeline without any concern. Domestic contractors gained valuable experiences during years of sanctions and today they are able to carry out $5 billion projects in South Pars. Implementation of projects in South Pars gas field has boosted the level of activity of Iranian contractors and placed them among the small group of contractors capable of conducting such megaprojects. Of course they need to upgrade themselves in other sectors like transfer of technology and project management. That would be possible by picking innovative foreign consultants.
Q: Many South Pars contractors are currently worried about their own future because all development phases have been finalized and no more contracts are to be signed for South Pars.
A: As you now, except for Phase 11 and part of Phase 14, all other phases of South Pars will come online by March 2018. But we have many development projects at South Pars. Construction of gas pressure booster platforms is one of them. For this purpose we need $20 billion in offshore investment. Platforms are planned to be constructed for boosting gas pressure at South Pars. They will be weighing 20,000 tons and their conceptual design is currently in the final stages. In the future, their basic design will start and then contractors can bid for constructing these platforms.
Q: Is this the second phase of South Pars development?
A: Yes, the second phase of development of South Pars will begin in March 2018. This development is aimed at preserving production at South Pars. Therefore, offshore sector contractors will have work to do and that would be much more than before. The platforms built so far for South Pars weighed between 2,500 and 2,700 tons, but now we eye 20,000-ton platforms. We predict to see significant job creation in the country over the next three years.
Furthermore, I think that contractors in this sector will be able to work for ten more years because development of Farzad A, Farzad B, Golshan and Ferdowsi fields is to start soon. Meanwhile, we are planning to develop North Pars in a bid to compensate for pressure fall-off at South Pars gas delivery. Therefore, up to the end of the 20-year Vision Plan, South Pars will be open to development
and we are bracing for a new era of prosperity in this field.