ISOICO begins loading operation of SP 14A platform
Operation to load platform 14A of the supergiant South Pars Gas Field has started at Iran Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Complex Company (ISOICO) in the southern Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.
The loading of the 2,350-ton structure began in a ceremony attended by Governor General of Bushehr Province Fereydoun Hemmati and a number of officials from Pars Oil and Gas Company as well as ISOICO, Shana reported.
Installation of the platform is expected to be completed by late January. Once operational, the structure will produce 14 million cubic meters of rich gas from Phase 14 of the offshore gas field.
The phase is being developed for the production of 56.6 mcm/d of gas, 75,000 bpd of gas condensates and 400 tons/day of sulfur.
The project has also envisaged the annual production of 1.05 million tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Iran announced in May 2017 that it has discovered a new gas field close to the giant South Pars natural gas field which it shares with Qatar.
Local media have quoted an unnamed official at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) as saying that the field — named Sepand — holds 1.5 trillion cubic feet of sweet gas of which about 792 billion cubic feet is recoverable.
The official added that it was still not clear if Sepand was shared with Qatar but underlined that it was independent from South Pars.
“One of the most important features of the new field is that it has a wide horizontal natural gas structure,” Shana quoted the NIOC official as saying.
The official added that the drilling of an exploration well would soon start in the field.
South Pars Gas Field, which is located in the Persian Gulf, holds the bulk of Iran’s natural gas reserves. The joint field — called the North Dome field in Qatar — is the world’s biggest largest gas field with estimated reserves of 51 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and some 50 billion barrels of condensate. Experts believe that the field has more recoverable reserves than all other fields combined.
Iran has so far developed 12 phases in the field — phases 1, 2&3, 4&5, 6-8, 9&10, 15&16. The remaining phases are 11, 12, 13, 14 and 22-24.
Experts believe that additional phases in South Pars and in other fields would raise Iran’s exports.
Nevertheless, they say that the motivation to produce more gas at the current juncture would be to satisfy domestic needs and also use the gas for reinjections into aging oilfields to boost production of crude oil.
