TEHRAN (PIN) – The first unit of Phase 6 of South Pars gas field with a 17 million cubic meter capacity will start work in the upcoming fall.

Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) manager for phases 6-8 development told PIN when the first unit of Phase 6 was put into operation, 1.3 billion cubic feet – equivalent to 34 billion cubic meters – of sour gas would be transferred to Fajr-e Jam Refinery through a 56 inch pipeline daily and would be injected into national grid after undergoing sweetening process.
Mohammad-Javad Shams added Phase 7 would come on stream by the end of current Iranian year (March 20, 2008).
“The three phases of 6, 7, and 8 have totally made 96 percent progress,” said the official, adding the phases’ onshore progress stood at 9705 percent and the offshore at 92 percent.
He said the platform of Phase 6 had been built and experts were busy removing its technical problems.
Shams added the platform of Phase 8 was under construction and would be installed within the next five months.
Phases 9 and 10 would be expected to become operational next winter, said the phases development manager.
Morteza Emami added the executive operations of the projects had shown close to 81 percent progress.
In the offshore section, he elaborated, the projects had been completed by 90 percent while about 89 percent of operations related to installation of platforms and 90 percent of pipe-laying were complete.
The official added that physical progress for onshore operations had been 76 percent.
The contract on the phases, worth $1.59 billion, was signed by the National Iranian Oil Company and a consortium of South Korean engineering companies, Oil Industries’ Engineering and Construction Company as well as Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company.
The plan is country’s first gas development project signed in the finance mode in such a huge volume.
Some 62 percent of the project was being implemented by Iranian experts and about 38 percent by foreign specialists.
The first unit of Phase 12 would start work in Dec. 2009, said the Petropars Company’s phase project manager.
Hamid Akbari made the statement in a ceremony in which the contract on pipe-laying operations of Phase 12 was signed.
The contract was inked by managing directors of Petropars Company and Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company (IOEC), Gholamreza Manuchehri and Massud Soltanpur.
According to the project manager, 120 thousand barrels of gas condensates will be desulfurized in the phase per day and 750 tons of sulfur will be exported daily.
“IOEC is duty-bound to design, manage, carry out the project, purchase the equipment, coat and lay the pipes, and deliver it temporarily,” added the official.
Located in the strategic Persian Gulf, South Pars -- the largest known gas reserves -- is shared between Iran and the tiny emirate of Qatar. It contains 1,900 TCF of gas in place and 56 billion barrels of condensate in place in the shared region.
Production started from South Pars after commissioning of Phase 2 in December 2002