Gas Boosts Liquid Fuel Exports
Development of the giant offshore South Pars gas field - the largest gas reservoir in Iran- has long been faced with restrictions. However, Iranian experts have managed to gain experience amid tough sanctions over the past years and prepare themselves for a new age in developing this jointly owned field.The meaningful relationship between the development of the South Pars field and the development of Iran’s economic, social and political infrastructure is no secret to anyone. In the importance of this field, it would be enough to cite estimates that the reservoir, which Iran jointly owns with Qatar, is valued at about $4,400 billion. To further understand this issue, it is noteworthy that Iran is gaining less than $80 billion a year from exporting crude oil.In 1997, Iran signed the first contract for the development of South Pars. In August 2005, five phases became operational. In the following years up to 2013, five more phases came online.Development of South Pars has picked up speed in the past six years. SP12, which is equivalent of three standard phases, came online in 2014, and SP15 and SP16 became operational in 2015. In 2017, SP17, SP18, SP19, SP20 and SP21 were started up. And most recently four new phases came on-stream. Therefore, the refineries of 15 South Pars phases have come online over the past six years.
Production in South Pars stood at 280 mcm/d in 2013 and now average gas recovery from South Pars has now reached 610 mcm/d in Iran’s sector.Liquid Fuel ExportsUsing gas or liquid fuel for fueling power plants would cost differently. The more Iran replaces liquid fuel with gas, the more Iran would export liquid fuel. That would also impose less cost on fuel consumption in Iran. Moreover, gas, as a clean fuel, is more environmentally friendly than liquid fuels. Gas production currently stands at a record level in Iran. In 2013 liquid fuel and fuel oil made up 47-48% of the power plants fuel. One year after, the percentage was down to 27. In 2015, it dropped to 18% and now it has fallen below 10%.