SP13, SP22-24 Ready to
Come Online As US sanctions have taken effect against Iran’s petroleum sector, the IslamicRepublic is recovering more than 600 mcm/d of gas from the giant South Parsgas field, outdoing Qatar with which it shares the offshore reservoir. As gascontinues to dominate the fuel mix for power plants, Iran has now a chance to
export gasoilince the current Iranian calendar year(22 March 2018), National Iranian OilCompany (NIOC) has been making effortsto increase its sour gas production fromSP13 and SP22-24 about 100 mcm/d for the 4thtime. To that end, against the backdrop of USand service workers are installing necessary
equipment in the Persian Gulf under toughconditions to extract, transfer, refine and injectgas into the national grid.It may be unimaginable for most of us to think ofworking long hours under 40-degrees centigradeand 95% humidity under searing sun. But 130kilometers from Bushehr Province’s coasts andnear the border with Qatar, Iran’s petroleumindustry is making efforts to increase its gas
production.Once all South Pars phases have becomeoperational, Iran’s gas production is forecastto exceed 1 bcm/d. That has already motivatedmajor gas consumers like Europe and the Indiansubcontinent to think of supplying part of theirneeds via Iran.Over the past decade, due to gas shortages and
the necessity of gas supply to the householdsector, gas supply to petrochemical plants andmajor industries was cut in winter and thepower plants had no option but to use liquidfuel instead of gas. However, since five yearsago, as new phases of South Pars have becomeoperational, there has been no serious problem
with gas supply to industrial facilities in Iran.Despite the restoration of US sanctions andoil price slump, Iran’s petroleum ministry hasprioritized projects and allocated funds to jointlyowned fields like the South Pars gas field. Asa result of such initiative, gas production hasincreased.New PhasesMastering cutting edge technologies hasalways been a major cause of concern f or thepetroleum industry. This issue was handledproperly during the previous tenures ofBijan Zangeneh as minister of petroleumin the 7th and 8th administrations. By thattime, technical knowhow as transferred fromleading offshore and onshore companies to
Iranian companies like the Iranian OffshoreEngineering and Construction Company (IOEC)and Petropars through their partnership withbig oil companies. These Iranian companiesare today able to perform big jobs in Iran’s
petroleum industry without reliance on foreigncompanies.
The 20-year-old history of development ofSouth Pars phases has been in ups and do wns,but it may be said that development of thisfield has experienced major changes over thepast six years. That picked up speed as soonas the first administration of President HassanRouhani took office in 2013. Prioritization
of South Pars phases led to the completionof SP12 just one year into the start of theRouhani administration. The project becameoperational in March 2015 in the presence ofPresident Rouhani. Later on, SP15 and SP16became operational in January 2018. SP17&18, SP19, SP20&21 were simultaneouslyinaugurated in April 2017. Inaugurating thisnumber of phases in a sing le day was a record.
Currently, SP13, SP22, SP23 and SP24 areclose to coming online. Several time ago, Iran’spetroleum minister visited these two projects.South Pars will undoubtedly be a significantpart of Iran’s petroleum industry history. Many
contractors and manufacturers won internationalfame, thanks to their activities in the South Parsdevelopment.SP13 Symbol of Self-BeliefNow that both onshore and offshore sectorsof SP13 have become operational, the chainof products at the refinery of this phase hasbeen completed and the production of valuable
products like propane and butane has started.In coincidence with the development of thisphase, four trains of gas sweetening, ethaneproduction units, gas condensate and granulatedsulfur units are in the production phase. As theaforesaid units become operational and liquefiedgas production starts, the refinery of SP13 is
completed.By launching the two remaining platforms andthe delivery of sour gas to the onshore refinery,all processing units would become operational.SP13 will reach its rated production capacity inthe stage of 13B.SP13, which is now 93.4% complete in theonshore and offshore sectors, has set records inmanufacturing, installation and operation sinceMarch 2017.Development of SP13 has picked up speed overthe past 20 months. Since March 2017, it hashad 11.4% progress in its entirety, 13% progressin the construction and operation of platforms,31% progress in the construction of pipelinesand 11.5% progress in the drilling sector.A 91.47% progress in construction, installationand operation of the four platforms of this
phase, load-out, installation and operation oftwo offshore platforms altogether alongside thecompletion of offshore pipeline constructionoperation indicates the increased level ofknowhow of Iranian oil and gas industryspecialists.