TEHRAN - The first train of the phase 14 Refinery of Iran’s South Pars complex is expected to go operational early next Iranian calendar year (begins on March 21), head of Pars Oil and Gas company (POGC) said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a visit to the 25th edition of Iran International Oil, Gas, Refining, and Petrochemical Exhibition (Iran Oil Show) on Friday, Mohammad Meshkinfam said: “All the 13 onshore refineries of the complex have been completed and only the Phase 14 refinery remains; this refinery’s initial production is scheduled to begin early next year.”

He stated that all the operations of the first phase of the South Pars gas field development project will be completed by the first half of the next Iranian calendar year 1400.

Engineering studies are also underway for increasing the recovery factor of the South Pars phases and POGC is going to sign a deal for the construction of two 16-megawatt (MW) turbochargers for increasing the recovery factor of the phases in this giant gas field, Meshkinfam added.

POGC is in charge of developing South Pars gas field which is divided into 24 standard phases in the first development stage. Most of the phases are fully operational at the moment.

Phase 14 development is aimed at producing 56.6 million cubic meters per day of rich gas, 75,000 barrels/day of gas condensate and 400 tons/day of sulfur, and 1 million tons/year of liquefied petroleum gas and one million tons/year of ethane to be fed to petrochemical plants.

Back in October 2020, the operator of the South Pars Phase 14 development project said the project’s onshore refinery is scheduled to be fully operational by the first half of the next Iranian calendar year (September 2021).

“Based on the defined benchmarks, by the end of this [Iranian calendar] year (March 2021), utility units (including water, electricity, and steam), gas condensate storage unit, independent water intake unit, torches, etc. will be completed and commissioned, Mohammad Mehdi Tavassolipour told Shana.

The huge South Pars field, which Iran shares with Qatar in the Persian Gulf, covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran’s territorial waters. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, called North Dome, are situated in Qatar’s territorial waters.

The field is estimated to contain a significant amount of natural gas, accounting for about eight percent of the world’s reserves, and approximately 18 billion barrels of condensate.

EF/MA