A high-ranking Iranian energy official says the largest phase of the South Pars gas field will start yielding natural gas by the end of September.

Executive Director of Petropars Projects, Seyyed Hadi Mirbagheri, said on Thursday that the flare of the offshore platform of South Pars Phase 12 was lit in early August following the transmission of sweetened natural gas from onshore to offshore facilities.

He added that Petropars technicians together with experts from the Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company managed to light the flare of the offshore platform of South Pars Phase 12 after they launched the first 32-inch pipeline of the phase, and transmit sweetened gas to the site.

Mirbagheri went on to say that the offshore platform of Phase 12 will yield 500 million cubic feet of natural gas per day in September, and will transfer the extracted gas to onshore facilities.

He stated that the offshore platform of South Pars Phase 12 will reach its maximum capacity in November, when it will yield 1,000 million cubic feet (mcf) of natural gas per day which will be transmitted to onshore gas treatment facilities.

On July 31, Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said all phases of the giant South Pars gas field will come on stream by 2015, when all remaining projects will be commissioned.

He added that 17 phases of the field are currently being developed, and Iran will extract as much natural gas as neighboring Qatar from the joint reservoir once the development of these phases is complete.

The oil minister stated that 80 percent of phases 17 and 18 of the South Pars gas field has been developed and they will be operational by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (ending March 20, 2014).

The South Pars gas field, divided into 28 phases, is located in the Persian Gulf on the common border between Iran and Qatar. It is estimated that the field contains 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of condensate.


HK