South Pars phases 15 and 16 ready for production

TEHRAN,June 21(MNA) - Eleven wells which have been drilled at the South Pars gas field’s phases 15 and 16 are ready to produce up to one billion cubic feet of natural gas. Eleven other wells will be drilled by September this year, which will boos the output to 2 trillion cubic feet. The phases 15 and 16 will start early production by the sixth calendar month of Shahrivar, which begins on August 22, said the managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company. Mousa Souri added that development of the two phases has progressed by 85 percent. Meanwhile, development of the phases 17 and 18 is ahead of schedule, Mehr news agency reported. The first phase of the gas refinery of the South Pars gas field, as the first absolutely Iranian-built refinery, will come on stream by September this year. The facility will have the capacity to refine 12.5 million cubic meters of natural gas per day. Construction of the gas refinery is 87 percent complete. All the designing, engineering, and installing operations are completely done by Iranian experts. On March 14, The Mehr News Agency quoted deputy oil minister Javad Owji as saying that Iran will inaugurate six phases of the South Pars gas field by the end of the current calendar year (March 2013). The South Pars gas field is shared by Iran and Qatar. The Iranian share, which is divided into 29 phases, has about 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, or about eight percent of the total world reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas resources.