Page 52 - IRANRptMar20

platforms operational
Iran sells products on IRENEX
state energy news agency Shana reported on November 25.
Iran’s South Pars offshore gas terminals are currently producing 630 mcm/d of gas from the offshore field Iran shares with Qatar. US sanctions aimed at Iran brought down an international consortium including POGC, France’s Total and China’s CNPC which had signed a deal to develop further phases of the resource.
Mohammad Meshkinfam, the POGC CEO, said development projects in phases 13, 14 and 22-24 were ongoing under operations run by domestic companies — but he did not name the specific subcontractors.
In the past few months, POGC has installed two new platforms in the gas field. They belong to phases 22-24 of the project. When operational, the platforms will add at least one billion cubic feet per day of gas to overall field output. Meshkinfam added that gas production from phase 14 of the project would begin soon, saying that Platform 14B was ready for production and would go online as soon as it was linked to the pipeline. The platform will operate at 500 bcm/d, Meshkinfam added.
The platform for the 23rd phase of Iran’s South Pars field ​was installed two weeks ago​, a previous Newsbase/bne IntelliNews report noted.
POGC’s acting deputy director for South Pars 22-24, Ali Asghar Sadeghi, was quoted by Shana as saying: “The platform for phase 23 is the third gas platform in phases 22 to 24 of the field. Similar to the first phase’s two platforms, the 23rd phase was constructed by Iran Marine Industrial Co. (SADRA) with the daily production capacity of 14.2 mcm.”
SP22-24 was earmarked to produce a combined 18.6 bcm per year by March 20 this year, but a lack of foreign currency after the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal and introduction of sanctions derailed these ambitions.
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported that the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) had sold 450,000 tonnes of oil products to foreign buyers over the Iran Energy Exchange (IRENEX) last month.
It said that the goods were valued at a total of $160.6mn.
The report said that the products were: 168,000 tonnes of gasoline ($64.3mn), 162,500 tonnes of gasoil ($73.9mn), 20,000 tonnes of kerosene and 50,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Values were not given for the kerosene and LPG.
Tehran has been experimenting with selling crude over the exchange in response to the US ramping up pressure on Iranian oil customers to reduce shipments, with oil products joining the slate in recent months. It has held offerings of light and heavy crude on IRENEX since October 28 last year as it tries to provide a variety of sales mechanisms to appeal to buyers.
In an effort to entice more buyers, the Ministry of Petroleum (MoP) cut the minimum purchase order for the June 11 offering from 35,000 barrels to 1,000 barrels for land delivery, while the clearance period for payments has been extended from 60 days to 90. Cargoes can either be delivered by sea at the Kharg Island terminal or by land at the Tabriz Refinery.
NIOC offered 2mn barrels of gas condensate on June 3 at $67.14 per barrel, with the minimum purchase noted at 1,000 barrels.
The amendments to the purchase and payment terms are nothing new. An amendment to the Iranian budget was approved on February 17, requiring the Ministry of Petroleum (MoP) to offer 2mn barrels per month of light crude on IRENEX. This came in addition to the 2mn barrels of heavy crude oil and 2mn barrels of natural gas condensates and natural gas the ministry was already obliged to supply to the exchange.
52​ IRAN Country Report​ March 2020 www.intellinews.com