31-08-08 Managing Director of Petropars Company Gholam Reza Manouchehri said that phases 6, 7 and 8 of South Pars gas field will become operational by the year's end (March 20, 2009).
"The initial production capacity of each phase is 1 bn cf of natural gas per day," he told.

He went on to add that the capacity of each phase in the refining sector amounts to 1.3 bn cf per day.
"Phase 6 will be inaugurated after the holy month of Ramadan. Currently, the process of completing the offshore section of Phase 6 has been carried out. At present, the flow of natural gas to the shore in this phase is intermittent and in the coming days it will become continuous," he noted.

Regarding the other two phases, he noted, "Phase 7 will become operational within the next two or three months and three months after this Phase 8 will go on stream."
Manouchehri emphasized that each of the said phases can produce about 40,000 barrels of gas condensate per day.
"In view of the fact that 40,000 barrels of gas condensate can be produced in each phase, the 25 phases of South Pars gas field will produce 1 mm barrels of gas condensate per day," he pointed out.

He also recalled that about $ 1 bn have been invested in each phase.
"By taking into account the power plant sector, a total of $ 3.3 bn have been invested in these phases. However, if we include the costs of the pipeline and injections into wells, which National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) has undertaken, the level of investment exceeds $ 6 bn," he noted.

Manouchehri recalled that since the gas of these phases is sour, it has been considered for injecting into Aghajari Oilfield.
"But, given the country's need for natural gas in the winter, it has been forecasted that in certain periods of the year this gas can be sweetened and a portion of it used for the local network," he said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Manouchehri said that the gas production capacity of the South Pars field is 700 bn cmpy.
"The vast potentials of the field pave the way for exports. In order to boost the output capacity and facilitate exports different phases of South Pars and also other gas fields in the Persian Gulf such as Ferdows, Farsi (in Lavan), Kish and North Pars should speedily become operational," he noted. The official emphasized that local energy consumption should be controlled effectively to comply with global standards.

The field is located in the Persian Gulf. The field is the biggest gas field in the world, shared between Iran and Qatar, which contains 1,900 tcf gas in place and 56 bn barrels of condensate in place in both parts.
South pars gas field is jointly owned by Iran and Qatar. The South Pars field is the name of northern part, which is located in Iranian waters and the North Dome is the name of southern part, which is located in Qatari waters. South Pars field was discovered in 1990 by NIOC.

Production started from the southern extension of the field, the North Dome in 1989, at daily gas production rate of 800 mm cfpd. Gas production started from South Pars field by commissioning the development phase 2 in December 2002 to produce 1 bn cfpd of wet gas.
The field consists of two independent gas-bearing formations, Kangan and Upper Dalan. Each formation is divided into two different reservoir layers, separated by impermeable barriers. Therefore, the field consists of four independent reservoir layers K1, K2, K3, and K4.

Iranian sections contain 500 tcf of gas in place and around 325 tcf of recoverable gas.
"The Iranian part of the field accounts for 8 % of global gas reserves. By considering other gas fields, Iran accounts for 16.5 % of global gas reserves," Manouchehri said.
He concluded by saying that the output capacity of North Pars gas field is equivalent to that of four phases of South Pars gas field.