Page 5 - MEOG Week 35.indd

MEOG COMMENTARY MEOG

Pars Gas Co. (SPGC) managing director Hadi (354 bcm) is recoverable. The asset was discov-
Hashemzadeh-Farhang as saying: “With the ered by an Indian consortium—comprising
launch of the [Persian Gulf Star Refinery] with ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), Indian Oil Corp. With the
a capacity of 360,000 barrels per day [bpd], the (IOC), and Oil India Ltd (OIL)—under an
production of gas condensate in the country in exploration service contract that expired in 2009, upcoming US
2020 increased by 87% compared to 2013.” after the field was declared commercial. presidential
He added that sulphur production at SPGC Since then, the Indian consortium has been
has also risen. “Sulphur production in Iran has unable to win the developments rights for the election casting
increased by 99%,” he said, without stating the field. Last year, OVL, the overseas arm of state-
period of growth. owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC), doubt over
made a revised offer to spend around $11bn
Ramping up in developing Farzad-B, a cost which included Trump’s future in
Development of other Iranian gas assets appears building the infrastructure to export the gas. office, Rouhani
to be coming back into focus, with Zanganeh At that time, Iran deferred the decision,
saying that the contract to develop the offshore owing to the cost involved for the development, will hope to build
Farzad-B gas field in the Persian Gulf would be saying that the upstream development part of it
signed during the current Iranian calendar year, should cost no more than $5.5bn. The Indians on the recent
which ends on March 20, 2021. insisted that the minimum cost for the upstream
This follows recent comments by the minister segment alone would be $6.2bn, with another agreement with
that Tehran is keen to expand oil and gas produc- $5bn or so required to build a connected LNG the IAEA to bring
tion capacity by that time, coinciding with the export facility.
end of Hassan Rouhani’s presidential term. Meanwhile, efforts towards the monetisation about progress
Zanganeh said in July that contracts for all of of gas have also gathered pace, with Zanganeh
Iran’s shared border oil and gas fields would be saying last week that the launch of the Persian ahead of Iran’s
formalised by March 21. “I don’t say their devel- Gulf Bid Boland gas refinery had begun at own elections.
opment will [be] complete but all the fields will Behbahan. So far, $3bn has been spent on the
be decided under real contracts with capable construction of the facility, which will receive Ian Simm
companies,” he added, noting that efforts would around 2 bcf (57 mcm) per day of gas for sweet- Principal Advisor
continue to increase capacity while sanctions ening, separation and onward transfer to petro- IGM Energy
remain in place so as to return market share as chemical plants as feedstock.
soon as possible. Speaking to MEOG, Ian Simm, Principal
He was quoted by Shana as saying: “It is Advisor at consultancy IGM Energy, said: “Teh-
true that our oil production has now decreased ran is keen to ramp up the country’s production
because of the unfair sanctions. But it will not capacities of both oil and gas in preparation for
remain like this forever. We should increase the long-awaited lifting of sanctions. With the
capacity so that anytime needed, we enter the upcoming US presidential election casting doubt
market with full force and revive our share.” over Donald Trump’s future in office, the Rou-
In December, Petropars was chosen by NIOC hani administration will hope to build on the
to carry out engineering, exploration and basic recent agreement with the International Atomic
design work at Farzad-B. Energy Agency (IAEA) over access to Iranian
The field is estimated to hold 21.7 tcf (615 nuclear sites to bring about progress ahead of its
bcm) of in-place gas reserves, of which 12.5 tcf own elections in mid-2021.”™

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