Three Gas Fields to Be Developed
The three gas fields of Kish, Balal and Farzad are expected to undergo development in the current calendar year, a top official has said.Mohammad Meshkinfam, CEO of Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC), said POGC had drilled and completed 41 offshore wells in the last calendar year.He also touched on the inauguration of eight trains of gas sweetening in the refining sector and the inauguration of phases 13 and phases 22-24 of the giant offshore South Pars gas field. “If the operation of two offshore platforms in SP14 is taken into consideration, we can say that 6 offshore topdrives became operational in the last calendar year, which was a record for the South Pars projects,” he said.Meshkinfam added that development of the three aforementioned fields had been recently assigned to POGC.He said the new assignments would force POGC to work at a higher pace
West Karoun Power Plant to Come Online
The CEO of Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC) has announced the upcoming commissioning of the first phase of the power plant of West Karoun in the first quarter of the current calendar year. “The final stages in Phase 1 of this power plant are under way. After its commissioning, the Petroleum Ministry would be for the first time generating electricity in West Karoun’s fields to serve development projects and local residents,” said Touraj Dehqani. He said development in West Karoun would pick up speed in the current calendar year, particularly in the South Azadegan oil field, by Iranian companies in order to “minimize the impact of sanctions and external problems”. “Efforts were under way in the previous years for the presence of foreign companies under new deals, and good results were achieved, but due to bottlenecks and sanctions they were thwarted,” he said, adding: “Nonetheless, the issue is being pursued by the Ministry of Petroleum in order to persuade foreign companies to contribute to West Karoun development.”
2 Petchem Projects to Come Online in H1
A senior official of National Petrochemical Company said two new petrochemical projects would come online in the first half of the current calendar year.Ali-Mohammad Bosaqzadeh said three sections of Phase 1 of the Bushehr petrochemical plant and some new sections of the Damavand Petrochemical Plant would become operational in the first half of the current calendar year.He said: “The petrochemical production capacity will increase after the commissioning of these two projects.”Bosaqzadeh said: “The sweetening and ethane recover units of the Bushehr plant have already started their trial-run operation and the methanol unit is in the pre- commissioning phase.”He added that completion of Phase 1 of the Damavand plant except for industrial waste treatment of all units would come on-stream.He said that Iranian manufacturers should take into account the transfer of technical knowhow and application of modern technologies
Iran Eyes LNG Production, Exports
The CEO of National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) has announced the company’s plans to produce and export liquefied natural gas (LNG) among other objectives. Hassan Montazer Torbati also said that NIGC intended to boost Iran’s presence in regional markets, diversify exports, stabilize production, pump gas into major markets and use suitable opportunities for global gas trading.He touched on Iran’s 33tcm gas reserves, saying NIGC had supplied gas to more than 1,141 cities and 28,000 villages. “There are about 45,000 villages in Iran, which could receive gas. Of them, more than 27,000 have been connected to gas and other villages will be linked to the gas network in the future,” he added.Montazer Torbati said natural gas made up a 75% share in Iran’s fuel mix. “In recent years, middle distillate and liquid fuel consumption has been falling. Liquid fuel consumption at power plants fell from 27 bcm/d in the calendar year to March 2014 to 8 bcm four years later.”
US Pressure on Iran Could Render Oil Market more Fragile: Zangeneh
Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said the current crude oil market was in a fragile state, adding, “If the US decided to exert more pressure on Iran, the oil market would become unpredictably more fragile.”Speaking in a live radio interview, Mr. Zangeneh reacted to rumors that oil facilities had been built on land in order to reduce costs leading to drying up of wetlands in oil-rich areas, saying that such rumors were spread by enemies of the Iranian nation. “There are films from oil facilities in wetlands that are swarmed with water,” he said. He emphasized that there were no prohibitions on the issue of Hoor al-Azim Wetland from the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum, adding, “Our policies have always been concerned with the ecosystem of the wetland as a living system and, for that matter, we have incurred a lot of expenses.” Highlighting the latest US President Donald Trump’ threats on Iran, Mr. Zangeneh said, “We continue to work, but what’s important is that the oil market is in a fragile state, and that there is not so much supply for the demand.” “Such statements are
mostly propaganda-oriented rather than calming the market. But that will not be the case. The price of oil is rising day by day, reflecting growing concerns in the market,” he said. The official argued that “Mr. Trump should choose whether to add more pressure on Iran or keep fuel prices low on gas stations in the US.” “Venezuela is now in difficulty; Russia has been banned; Libya is in a state of unrest and the US has lost a part of its oil output. These indicate that the state of production, supply and demand are fragile. If they want to add pressure on Iran, this fragility will be unpredictably exacerbated.”Zanganeh, in response to the a question that if Sudan’s current state as a pivot supported by Saudi Arabia was to end, and that of pressures continued on Venezuela, then would the United States succeed in furthering pressure on Iran, said such issues concerned northern Sudan while the country produced most of its oil in its southern regions, adding continuation of the status quo in Venezuela could only increase pressure on the US