TEHRAN — A contract on construction of jackets for phase 12 at South Pars gas field, southern Iran, was signed on Saturday.

Calling for an investment worth $62.9 million, the contract was inked by Petropars and Iran Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Complex Co. (ISOICO), Petropars managing director said.

Under the contract, ISOICO will build and install three jackets namely SPD 14, 15, and 16, each weighing around 3,300 tons, Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported Gholam-Reza Manuchehri as saying. He added that the company will carry out operations within 13 months.

The official called the project as important, because it is prior to other operations such as drilling, and any delay in installing jackets would postpone whole development project at phase 12, he reasoned. On the project to develop phase 12, Manuchehri elaborated, “The phase has a total capacity of 3 billion cubic feet of natural gas, of which 2 billion cu. ft. will fed Iran LNG Project.”

The remaining will be sweetened and then injected into the gas network, he added.

Construction of a refinery is included in phase 12 development project as well, he stated, adding, the refinery is under construction in Tonbak region and will receive gas via three 150-km pipelines.

Initial investment is set at $4 billion, which may be increased later on, he explained.

He added that Naftiran Intertrade Company (NICO), a marketing affiliate to National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), will finance the phase.

Also according to ISNA, studies on offshore basic engineering at the phase will finish by the end of December, Karimi, director for phase 12 project at Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) said.

He added that the tender documents on offshore part of the project plus EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) papers will be distributed in December and January.

“In addition, onshore engineering operations are to be completed by April, despite changes already made to the Master Development Plan (MDP)”, he noted.

On the drilling operations at phase 12, Karimi said that (bid) envelops on renting drilling rigs will be received by the end of December.

He added that the project to develop phase 12 is scheduled to finish within 66 months.

POGC and Petropars are two subsidiaries of National Iranian Oil Company.