Increase of Production and Revenue in Both Sides of the Field

Increase of Production and Revenue in Both Sides of the Field Geographical location of Iran in comprising energy resources is such as that it not only has oil and gas fields within its borders but also possesses 28 oil and gas fields in share with its neighbor countries. The south Pars field which is the biggest gas field in the .world has been utilized by both Iran and Qatar

News ID: 77512

Date: 02 December 2017 - 11:14

Huge investment of its neighbor countries on these fields and their omission from protect-oriented production for keeping the fields survive; make us to have an effective strategic program in order to rectify backwardness in some of these fields. Planning conducted by Ministry of Petroleum in the middle of 1370s decade indicated that after 90 years Iran Energy Center would be shifted from around “Dare Khersoon” in Masjed Soleyman to a small village near Persian Gulf which had 300 inhabitants. It had been more than twenty years since the discovery of the world’s largest gas field by Shell and Agip in the sea-bed of Qatar, and from the beginning of the seventh government, it was supposed to compensate the two decades of lag in this shared section by planning and determining multiple phases. By this way, like setting up Abadan Refinery which was the biggest global refinery in that time, we could take advantage of launching the world’s largest energy complex in the coastal bar of Asalouyeh, Nakhl Taghi and Kangan.
Double Production of Qatar in Compare with Iran
Oil industry as the stimulus of the economy of Iran has played an important role inthe development, employment and economic growth of the country. In the past years, this importance was doubled because of sanctions against Iran, and after that this role has been obvious in different parts of economy and management of the country. Development of the south Pars field confronted with plenty of plans and unbalanced distribution of resources and management focus (without paying attention to gas production). These days, this field as the country’s energy pole is the largest center of industrial development and the main engine of economic development which could not only end the tragic years of supplying the country’s winter gas demand but also create a way for Iran’s entry into the global gas trade and play more effective role in this section. These years, development of the South Pars gas field which is one of the most important joint fields, has taken attention from Iranian governors and policymakers more than before. Before the start of the 11th government, development of this field in the case of 10 phases of exploitation and 14 phases of expansion had been following, but intensifying sanctions, slowing down the process of supplying equipment, mismanagements, disturbing in the schedule of expanding sections, negligence of some contractors in the beginning of project, no prioritization, and concentrating equipment and resources for compensating delays of some phases instead of simultaneously allocating facilities to all phases; all were the main reasons for postponement in development of this joint field.
These conditions were occurring in Iran as Qatar produced 570 million cubic meters of natural share of Iran was only 270 million cubic meters of natural gas daily from this shared resource. The importance of this issue has led the 11th government to prioritize plans for the development of the joint field of South Pars and despite of exacerbating sanctions – especially in the first 2 years of starting the work of new government - Ministry of Petroleum did its best in order to develop the projects and increase the exploitation of gas from this joint field. The first step was concentration on all available facilities to operate not completed phases as soon as possible. In this way, phase number 12, 15, 16, 17, and 18 were in development priorities.
By concentrating of existing capacities for bring 5 top priority phases into operation as soon as possible, economic recovery has been occurred in related industries from the pipe industry to the supply of large platforms. In any case, various executable activities in the development of south Pars field and performing various projects in the natural gas production chain from the depths of several hundred meters under the sea to the installation and construction of offshore platforms, implementation and installation of submarine pipelines, and construction of huge gas refineries and its subsidiary facilities, have made the huge number of different domestic industries activated in different parts of the country and have created job opportunities for many domestic contractors and skilled human resources. Nevertheless, the prosperity of implementing projects in different phases of the south Pars field has become the status of economic development of the country. Equivalence of production on both sides of the field
In practice, the attempts led to the fulfillment of Resilient Economy in the South Pars field. Production of gas which was 270 million cubic meters per day in the beginning of the 11thgovernment (Hassan Rouhani’s administration) in the gas field of South Pars, up to one year ago, it reached 430 million cubic meters per day by completing and setting up phases 12, 15 and 16, and part of phases 17 and 18. Furthermore, in the past year, with the completion of phases 19, 17, 18, 20 and 21 which were identified as developmental phases with second priority, this figure reached 570 million cubic meters per day. By this way, after 12 years for the first of share of Iran was equal to Qatar in producing gas from the South Pars gas field.
The achievement of the equivalent capacity of the joint field of South Pars in comparison with the neighbor country, by reaching to 570 million cubic meters per day is one of the major achievements of the 11th government. Which itself indicates the increased in production capacity by approximately 300 million cubic meters of the total capacity achieved before August 2013.In this case, the total gas production from the joint field of South Pars has been 596 billion cubic meters since the start of developmental projects before the 11th government, while only in the 11th state 516 billion cubic meters of gas has been exploited from the field. In the other words, the actual production of the last four years was equal to the total production of twelve years before it. The value of this increase in production over the past four years is over $50 billion.155 million and 200 million cubic meters of gas out of 516 billion cubic meters of gas produced from the joint field of South Pars in the past four years, was produced in the last year . By registering this figure, the records of annual production of gas from South Pars field has been broken. On 2015, the annual gas production from South Pars was 131 billion and 500 million cubic meters, which reach to 155 million cubic meters in 2016, an increase of 23.7 billion cubic meters, which resulted in the cumulative production of gas by Iran from the joint field reached 516 billion cubic meters in the last four years and reach 112 billion cubic meters over the life of the field on the Iranian side.
Increasing the supply of petrochemicals and removing concerns about domestic gas supply
The development plans of phases 17 and 18 of the South Pars, which started operation by the presence of the president in April this year, the daily production capacity of 56.6 million cubic meters of gas, daily production of 75 thousand barrels of gas condensate, annual production of 1.05 million tons of LPG (Propane and Butane), annual production of 1 million tons of Ethane for the supply of petrochemical units, and daily production of 400 tons Sulfur; have added to the country’s gas production. The production of these two phases has led to around $ 1.5 billion of revenue for the country up to now.The development plan of phase 19 is another development project of this joint field which started operation by the presence of the president on April this year. The production capacity of 56.6 million cubic meters of gas per year, 75 thousand barrels of gas condensate, 400 tons of sulfur, as well as annual production of 1.05 tons of liquid gas and one million tons of Ethane were completed in order to supply the petrochemical units during the last year. The products of this phase have about $ 1.3 billion of revenue and value for the country up to now.
The development plans of phases 20 and 21 of the South Pars, which started operation by the presence of the president in April this year, the daily production of 56.56 million cubic meters of rich gas, 75 thousand barrels of gas condensate, 400 tons of sulfur, and annual production of one million tons of LPG (Propane and Butane), and one million tons of ethane for the supply of petrochemical units; have added to the country’s production capacities and the total number of new operations was increased to 5 phases with a total capacity of about 150 million cubic meters of natural gas. The production of phases 20 and 21 has valued at $ 1.3 billion up to now.
Another result of the increase in gas production capacities in South Pars could be the removal of concerns about domestic gas supply. In the beginning of the last year’s cold season, Turkmenistan in an immoral action which was far from commercial ethics stopped exporting gas to Iran. Although this gas cut off was without any Prior notice to Iran, based on increasing production capacities in the South Pars gas field, we were able to survive the winter of last year without worrying about supplying the domestic gas.
Change the fuel of the power plants More gas allocation to power plants and industries, which has led to a reduction in the consumption of liquid fuel in these units, has also been among other achievements in the development of the South Pars in recent years, especially in the past year. While in 2013, 45% of liquid fuel and 55% of gas were consumed at power plants, these figures were reached to 88% of gas consumption and 12% of liquid fuel in 2016. The consumption of 45% of liquid fuel at power plants meant to burn about $18 billion worth of fuel. It is equivalent to fuel which could make 18 billion dollars annually for the country by export instead of burning in power plant furnaces.