Page 60 - IRANRptFeb22

Iran to build 948-km oil pipeline to terminus near Afghan and Turkmen borders
day (bpd) of crude are produced from the field’s oil layer.
Meanwhile, in late October, Pars Oil & Gas Co. (POGC) said it had completed its annual maintenance across the field’s 24 phases to ensure stable production during winter months.
Iran is home to around 34 trillion cubic metres of proven natural gas reserves, with the supergiant South Pars accounting for around 14 tcm as well as 18bn barrels of gas condensates. The Islamic Republic holds a 3,700-square km portion of the 9,700-square km deposit that is shared with Qatar, where it is known as the North Dome field. Around 80% of the field’s initial gas reserves are believed to remain in place.
SP11 is targeting the production of 2bn cubic feet (57 mcm) per day of gas. Petropars was left as the only remaining partner in the $4.879bn project, for which stakes of 50.1% and 30% were awarded to French super-major Total and China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), respectively in July 2017. The award was made for an Integrated Petroleum Contract (IPC) model, setting SP11’s production target at the time to 20.8bn cubic metres per year.
The Chinese firm became the lead investor in SP11 after Total withdrew in August 2018, citing the threat of incurring US sanctions should it go ahead with plans. The French firm had planned to invest an initial $1bn, focusing on a section of the field near the South Pars Oil Layer, adjacent to areas of the field under Qatar’s control.
The company’s stake was handed over to CNPC, with Petropars retaining the remaining 19.9%, but the Chinese firm departed in 2019.
Iranian refiner National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) have signed a $425.1mn preliminary deal with privately owned local lender Bank Mellat to finance the construction of a 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) oil pipeline to supply the northeast of Iran, SHANA reported on January 16.
The 948-kilometre pipeline, named Tabesh, could feasibly lead to Turkmenistan and Afghanistan becoming connected to Iran’s oil pipeline network if short interconnectors were put in place.
It is expected that construction would take four years. The pipeline would run through the cities of Rafsanjan, Birjand and Torbat Heydariyeh to a terminus in Mashhad.
The south-north pipeline would source 360,000 bpd of oil products from the Persian Gulf Star Refinery on the Persian Gulf.
The new infrastructure would enable Mashhad to rely less on regional neighbours including Turkmenistan for products including oil condensates. "Without this pipeline, around 800 to 1,000 tanker trucks would be needed to carry its product daily," Iran's petroleum minister Javad Owji told reporters. Iran’s average daily export volume of petroleum products to Afghanistan prior to the Taliban takeover of the country in August last year stood at around 16,000-20,000 bpd.
9.2.2 Automotive corporate news
Iran’s IKCO, JETCO ‘set to unveil all-electric-version Tara sedan’
Automaker Iran Khodro Corporation (IKCO) and Iranian engineering firm Jetco have announced the completion of their first electric vehicle (EV) in the form of a revised Tara sedan, Khodro Bank reported on January 9. Speculation that an Iranian EV was about to be announced has been rife in the local automotive industry for several months since eagle-eyed journalists spotted IKCO’s official import of a Tesla model for testing purposes. There are claims that IKCO and Jetco have reversed-engineered elements of the general
60 IRAN Country Report February 2022 www.intellinews.com