Page 4 - MEOG Week 49 2022

MEOG COMMENTARY MEOG

NIOC nears South Pars

phase 11 start-up as new

oil finds announced

The state oil firm has announced major new discoveries as it prepares to kick
off gas production from the final offshore phase of the South Pars development

IRAN THE National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) said this Khojastehmehr highlighted that construc-
week that it is nearing the start of production tion and commissioning activities remain
from Phase 11 of the South Pars gas field. A day ongoing at both the onshore gathering site at
WHAT: later, a company official announced the discov- Assalouyeh and offshore in the Persian Gulf,
South Pars 11 is set to ery of new oil reservoirs in the south-west of the noting that the drilling of four Phase 11 wells
begin production in the country. are in the final stage of completion and tie-back
coming months with Iran The latter disclosure was typically vague and pipelaying work has been finalised.
ramping up gas output to pointed only to the area south of the Zagros He added that this will enable production
match, and (hopefully) mountains, a region in which Tehran has pre- from the phase to begin soon, indicating that
reliably exceed domestic viously claimed the discovery of massive oil first gas is expected to flow before the end of
demand. reserves, which turned out to be a heavy layer February 2023.
associated with already established oilfields. Referring to other developments, Khojaste-
WHY: hmehr said that completion work is underway
Despite being one of Phase 11 kick-off to accelerate the expanded development of the
the world’s largest Speaking to official state media, CEO Mohsen South Azadegan oilfield in the southern Khuz-
gas producers, Iran Khojastehmehr said on December 5 that Iran’s estan Province, noting that this is one of NIOC’s
regularly suffers from total gas output is currently running at more top priorities.
gas shortages during than 1bn cubic metres, fully covering peak
peak demand in winter domestic demand over the winter. Oilfield developments
months. Of this, the overall South Pars development Meanwhile, he said that engineering, procure-
includes 37 platforms across the field’s 24 phases ment and construction (EPC) and engineer-
WHAT NEXT: and produces around 700mn cubic metres per ing, procurement and drilling (EPD) work
Yet more massive finds day. Tehran is aiming to increase output from had started last week at the Esfand and Sivand
have been made in the South Pars to 1 bcm per day as quickly as possi- oilfields.
south of the country ble but requires significant investment to main- Project tracking data compiled by Middle
and in the offshore, but tain and add to production. An additional 50,000 East Oil & Gas (MEOG) shows that South Aza-
given its existing reserve barrels per day (bpd) of crude are produced from degan was running at 140,000 bpd during 2021,
wealth, these assets are the field’s oil layer. with North Azadegan flowing at around 75,000
unlikely to be developed Capacity at South Pars is seen growing to 730 bpd. However, official state media have since
quickly. mcm per day once Phase 11 is commissioned. quoted current total output at around 190,000

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 49 07•December•2022