TEHRAN - Managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) announced that the first wharf of the Tombak export-service port in southwestern Bushehr Province has gone operational, Shana reported.

According to Mohammad Meshkinfam, the mentioned wharf was officially put into operation by loading and exporting a 6,700-ton Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cargo from the port’s terminal.

Underlining the port's complete readiness for loading and exporting of South Pars gas field’s products, the official noted that another 44,000-ton vessel is going to moor at this port to be loaded with LPG from the Pars II site.

In order to complete the remaining sections of the terminal, executive operations are underway simultaneously with the operation of the first wharf of the terminal, Meshkinfam stressed.

He pointed to the implementation and construction of six LPG pipelines from the refineries of South Pars phases 13 and 22-24 to the Tombak port and said: "Currently, the liquefied gas produced in these two refineries is exported in the hot form; however, when these pipelines are completed, cold liquefied gas will be loaded and exported through Tombak export port.”

In late January, POGC also inaugurated two LPG storage tanks of phase 22-24 of Iran’s South Pars gas field with a capacity of 80,000 cubic meters. The LPG stored in these storages will be transported to the mentioned port when the said pipelines are completed.

According to Meshkinfam, the total LPG loading capacity in this project will be increased to 160,000 cubic meters after another two tanks go operational by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20).

Tombak export-service terminal is located in the Pars II area, where eight refineries and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project are located.

In addition to exporting oil and gas products, this port is aimed at providing services to vessels navigating in the region.

Iranian Oil Ministry has been following a series of programs for boosting the exports of oil and gas products especially from the country’s southern Pars Special Economic Energy Zone (PSEEZ).

Back in 2019, Managing Director of National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Hassan Montazer Torbati had announced his company’s decision for increasing LPG exports in the upcoming years.

Torbati had said that a huge amount of LPG is currently produced in the country which could be exported to the global markets.

South Pars gas field, which Iran shares with Qatar in the Persian Gulf waters, is currently divided into 24 standard phases on the Iranian side and 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.

The mentioned gas field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which, called South Pars, are in Iran’s territorial waters. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, called North Dome, are situated in Qatar’s territorial waters.

EF/MA