Page 71 - IRANRptJul22

9.2 Major corporate news 9.2.1 Oil & gas corporate news
Iran continues refining push with Lavan studies
NIDC kicks off South Azadegan drilling campaign
Iran’s Lavan Oil Refining Co. (LORC) has begun engineering studies for the development of a new 150,000 barrel per day (bpd) facility on the island of the same name in the Persian Gulf.
The company’s managing director Mohammad-Ali Akhbari said this week that the National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Co. (NIOEC) has kicked off the studies and negotiations have been held with local banks to fund the project.
He asked for assistance from the Ministry of Petroleum (MoP) and LORC’s parent firm the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) in allocating land but noted that some permits have been received and tenders are being prepared.
The facility will be located near the existing Lavan refinery, which was originally built in 1951 with a capacity of 20,000 bpd. It is now capable of processing 35,000 bpd of crude piped to the facility from Lavan Island storage facilities, and 20,000 bpd of condensate tanked to the island from the South Pars gas field.
Work is also set to begin on the 300,000 bpd Shahid Ghasem Soleimani refinery alongside the 360,000 bpd Persian Gulf Star Refinery (PGSR) in the wider Bandar Abbas refining complex on Iran’s southern coast.
The refinery, named in honour of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) general Qasem Soleimani, who was assassinated in early 2020, will be constructed at an estimated cost of $11.5bn.
In February, Oil Minister Javad Owji said that refining capacity would expand by around 200,000 bpd in the next two or three years. “We have signed contracts for an additional 1.46mn bpd to be implemented in a period of four to six years for refineries that produce feedstock for petrochemical plants,” he added, noting that each 100,000 bpd increment would cost around $2.5-3bn, inferring a total outlay of $36.5-43.8bn.
Meanwhile, the following month, the MoP announced it had received budgetary approval to expand refining capacity by 300,000 bpd, with private sector and foreign investment likely to be sought.
The head of the National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Co. (NIOEC), Farhad Ahmadi, then said that $18bn would be spent on upgrading the country’s refineries and associated infrastructure, covering the 360,000 bpd Abadan refinery ($1.85bn), a facility of unspecified capacity in Khuzestan ($4.5bn) and the Soleimani unit.
National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Co. (NIORDC) said in April that the Abadan Refinery Development and Stabilisation Project is 92% complete and will be finalised during the summer.
“The venture includes the installation of new units, including hydrogen processing, hydrocracking, liquefied petroleum gas [LPG], crude distillation and other utilities to replace old units built 70 years ago,” he said.
The National Iranian Drilling Co. (NIDC) announced last month that it has started a 10-well campaign at the supergiant South Azadegan oilfield in the south of the country.
The programme includes the drilling and completion of wells under a subcontract from Petroleum Engineering and Development Co. (PEDEC), a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) which was awarded a $1.26bn contract alongside Petropars in 2020 for the first development phase
71 IRAN Country Report July 2022 www.intellinews.com