TEHRAN (IRNA) — Iran’s South Azadegan oil processing center has reached its nominal capacity of 320,000 barrels per day following the completion and commissioning of all four processing trains, state-owned Petropars Group said.

Hamidreza Saghafi, head of Petropars Group, an implementing arm of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said the facility was Iran’s largest oil processing center, with four trains designed to handle a combined 320,000 barrels per day.

The third processing train was commissioned on March 19, 2025, and reached stable production on May 14, 2025, Saghafi said. The fourth train was commissioned on Dec. 21, 2025, and reached stable production on Dec. 25, he added.

Construction of the first and second trains began moving towards completion in February 2026 and continued despite wartime conditions. Pre-commissioning and commissioning activities also began, enabling the trains to receive crude oil for processing, Saghafi said.

Following authorization for a four-day production shutdown, the control and safety systems of the first two trains were integrated with those of the third and fourth trains. After approval was granted to introduce crude oil into the first two trains, the facility achieved its 320,000-bpd processing capacity on Oct. 11, 2026, he said.

Saghafi said the center was a key infrastructure project for the development of West Karoun, an oil-producing region in southwestern Iran. The facility is expected to play an important role in transporting, processing and stabilizing crude oil from the area and could help support higher output from other fields in West Karoun.

Overall project progress has exceeded 80%, he said.

On associated gas, Saghafi said completion of the relevant units would enable the facility to send 200 million standard cubic feet of gas per day to the NGL 3200 gas processing plant.

He credited the achievement to the efforts of project specialists and workers, as well as cooperation between the project owner and contractors.

EF/