New Gas Find in Fars Province
National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) announced the discovery of an independent gas field in the southern Iranian province of Fars. The Eram gas field holds 19 tcf of gas in place, over 13 tcf of which is recoverable.
Reza Dehqan, deputy CEO of NIOC for development and engineering, said: “With this discovery, it can be argued that Iran has reached self-sufficiency in exploration activities.”
NIOC Directorate of Exploration said the new gas field was located 200 kilometers south of the city of Shiraz, 60 kilometers north of Assaluyeh and 25 kilometers south of the city of Khonj. The gas reservoir is 50 kilometers long and 5 meters wide.
Seventy-five percent of Iran’s gas discoveries and twenty percent of oil discoveries have been made following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran sits atop 159 billion barrels of recoverable liquid hydrocarbon, standing in the fourth rank in the world. In terms of gas reserves, Iran comes second in the world with 34 tcm of recoverable gas. Therefore, Iran comes first in terms of combined oil and gas reserves in the world.
Light and Sweet Gas
According to Dehqan, the exploration well which led to the discovery of Eram had been drilled by National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC). Drilling began in summer 2018 and lasted more than 9 months. Eram is also estimated to hold 385 billion barrels of gas condensate, or equivalent to one phase of the giant South Pars gas field.
Data provided by the Directorate of Exploration shows an API gravity of 49 and hydrogen sulfur content of 800 ppm for the Kangan and Upper Dalan reservoirs and an API gravity of 50 and hydrogen sulfur content of 45 ppm for the Lower Dalan reservoir. That shows the high quality of gas in the Eram field.
The vicinity of the Eram field to the Shanol and Homa gas fields near the Parsian gas refinery, as well as the existence of proper infrastructure would add to the significance of development of this field in making up for production loss in adjacent fields, as well as in sustainable feedstock supply to the Parsian treatment facility.
$40bn Revenue
Dehqan said Eram’s gas was enough to meet Tehran’s needs for 16 years. “But fortunately or unfortunately since we have the South Pars field, which is the world’s largest gas field, other discoveries are not seen as important.”
“Such discovery would be taken seriously were it made in other countries,” he added.
Dehqan said Eram’s gas was sweet, adding that the gas layer of this field was 400 meters thick, which is high for a gas reservoir.
“Estimates show that this field’s gas and condensate would produce $40 billion in revenue,” he added.
He said that the Baghoun field, which had been discovered earlier, was part of the Eram field.
Dehqan said the available infrastructure in Fars Province would facilitate treatment of gas at the Parsian refinery.
Dehqan underlined the significance of exploration as the first link in the value chain of oil and gas production.
He said: “Fortunately, not only in the exploration sector but also in the development sector we are self-reliant. The prime examples of self-sufficiency are the implementation of enhanced oil recovery, as well as the Goureh-Jask crude oil transmission project by hiring Iranian contractors.”