TEHRAN: Iran, which tries hard to recover its energy sector, which has been hit hard by international sanctions, plans to offer second phase of South Pars oil layer development project to foreigners. Islamic Republic’s deputy oil minister Ali Kardor announced about this while talking to reporters, Tasnim news agency reported. The Iranian companies are working on the first phase of the project, but they lack the necessary technology for development of other phases, said Kardor, who heads the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).
Iran eyes to pump 35,000 barrels of crude oil a day in the first phase of the project, Kardor said, adding that oil production from the phase will start by March 2017 by installing the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit. The purchased FPSO unit is now in the UAE and will be handed over to Iran once its equipment installation is completed, Kardor said.
FPSO unit is a floating vessel used by the offshore oil and gas industry for the production, processing of hydrocarbons and for storage of oil. An FPSO vessel is designed to receive hydrocarbons produced by itself or from nearby platforms or subsea template, process them, and store oil until it can be offloaded onto a tanker or, less frequently, transported through a pipeline.
Kardor further said that drilling of all wells in the first phase of South Pars oil layer has been completed. He added that the other phases of the South Pars oil layer will be offered to foreign firms within the framework of the new oil contract model, IPC (Iran Petroleum Contract).
Development of South Pars oil layers is aimed at producing 35,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) in the first phase. With the implementation of the first phase and the field assessments conducted thereafter, it will be determined whether the projected production of 54,000 bpd in the second phase is economically viable.
South Pars gas field is divided into 24 development phases and contains 40 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. It covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers are situated in Qatar’s territorial waters. Currently Iran’s gas production in the field stands at 430 million cubic meters per day.
