Page 51 - IRANRptMar20

The plan to launch observational satellite Zafar (Victory), built by the Iranian Space Agency (ISA), might prompt a hostile response from the US which accuses Iran of using its rocket-building programme as a disguised way of developing missiles that could carry a nuclear payload—something Tehran refutes.
The satellite, reportedly to be delivered to the defence ministry within the next few days, will be launched on Simorgh (a benevolent, mythical bird in Iranian mythology, sometimes equated with the phoenix). In fact, Iran’s space rocket and satellite programme needs something like a phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes recovery. The Iranians in 2019 suffered three space rocket launch failures. The third instance involved ​a rocket exploding on the launch pad​ last August at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in northern Semnan province.
Azari Jahromi said Zafar would be launched “before the 22nd day of [Persian calendar month] Bahman [February 11] and information about it will be publicised.”
He added: “If the mission fails, Zafar 2 will be launched shortly afterwards.” Zafar weighs 113 kilograms and the plan is to put it in orbit at an altitude above 500 kilometres, Jahromi said, adding that it would be utilised for telecommunications, taking images and “picking up space signals”. Its planned life span is 18 months.
Iran is one of only a handful of countries capable of producing its own rockets and satellites.
9.2 ​Major corporate news 9.2.1​ Oil & gas corporate news
Iran installs final South Pars Phase 14 gas field production equipment
Iran's South Pars output could hit 680 mcm/d with new
Iranian oil and gas firms have successfully installed the final equipment required for South Pars Phase 14 gas field production. ​The 2,400-tonne Platform 14D has been erected, according to oil ministry-owned energy news agency SHANA.
The entirety of South Pars in the Persian Gulf is thought to make up the largest gas field in the world. Shared by Iran and Qatar, its development, in Iranian waters, has been hampered by US sanctions that in August 2018 put an end to French energy major Total’s participation in planned South Pars hydrocarbon extraction. Last October, ​Tehran announced​ ​that the China National Petroleum Corporation had also withdrawn from its role in helping to develop the giant field.
Platform 14D was shipped from the Sadra shipyard to its offshore location. Its operation should add 500mn cubic feet (14.2mn c/m) of gas to Iran’s South Pars output, according to Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC), which is solely in charge of South Pars development.
Mohammad Mehdi Tavasoli-Pour, manager of Phase 14, said it was anticipated that production of 56 mcm/d of rich gas would be extracted from the South Pars phase he manages.
A previous platform, Platform 14B, was installed in mid-July last year. It was built over the course of 115 months by Iranian firms.
The first Phase 14 platform, 14A, started operations during summer 2018. The second platform to go operational, 14C, went into service in October 2018.
The CEO of Iran’s Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) has said the firm is hoping to upgrade gas extraction and production from the giant South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf to 680mn cubic metres per day (mcm),
51​ IRAN Country Report​ March 2020 www.intellinews.com