South Pars phase 1 output increases by 500 MMcfd to 1 Bcfd

July 14, 2015

TEHRAN -- The head of Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) reports that the daily production capacity of the massive South Pars gas field has increased by 500 MMcfd.

Ali-Akbar Shabanpour said the capacity has been provided after four new wells were spudded by the SPD 1 drilling rig and 400 Mcfg of gas is now being recovered from the platform. The SPD1 platform of Phase 1 can now produce 1 Bcfd of gas, he said.

Iran's South Pars field, shared with Qatar, covers an area of 500 sq mi and is located 3,000 m below the seabed at a water depth of 65 m. The Iranian side accounts for 10% of the world's and 60% of Iran's total gas reserves. Iran's portion of the field contains an estimated 436 Tcf.

Phase 1 development of the gas field is operated by Petropars (NIOC Pension Fund 60%, Industrial Development and Renovation Organization 40%). Around $300 million worth of contracts have been signed with South Korea's Samsung and Sadra (Iran Marine Industrial Company) for the development of the phase.

The phase's utility facilities started operating in 2002 and the process facilities were operating by July 2003, giving a total gas output of 1 Bcfd and 40,000 bpd of gas condensates.