The South Pars Gas Field, the world’s largest independent gas reserve, is an exploration of NIOC. Located on Iran-Qatar borderline in the Persian Gulf, the field is 100 km off Iran’s southern coast. The expanse of this field is 3700 sq.km in the Iranian part and 6000 sq.km in the Qatari side.
Given the vast expanse of the field, South Pars is planned to be developed in different phases. Assaluyeh Port, situated 270 km southeast of Bushehr, is considered as the base coast for erection of offshore establishments and phase-by-phase development of this field.
At the same time, in order to establish further facilities for implementation of different phases of the development project, and to promote economic activities in the region, establishment of Pars Special Economic Energy Zone has been approved by the High Council of Free Zones.
Based on the latest estimations, the capacity of the Iranian part of the field stands at an approximate 464 trillion cubic feet which is about 8 percent of all the world’s, and 40 percent of Iran’s total gas reserves. The South Pars Gas Field also houses 17100 million barrels of gas condensates.
The average output of each well is estimated around 100 million cubic feet per day. Therefore, development of this field is on the agenda of NIOC as one of the most important measures in Iran’s economic, social and cultural development plan. This development will also serve to supply the country’s growing energy demands, inject gas to oil fields, and export gas and gaseous condensates.

The first phase in development of South Pars Gas Field is planned for exploitation of gas and gaseous condensates from the reserve. Offshore and onshore installations are being erected for a daily production and refining of 1000 million cubic feet of gas to be transferred to countrywide pipelines.
Based on the plans designed for this phase, in addition to gas, some 40,000 barrels of stabilized gaseous condensates and 200 tons of solid sulfur will also be exploited on a daily basis. The offshore and onshore installations for this phase are under implementation by Iran’s Petropars Co.
The offshore facilities are being installed some 105 km off Assaluyeh Coast in the Persian Gulf, close to Iran-Qatar sea border. These facilities include drilling platform, exploitation rig, residential complex, flare, 5.5 km length of 18-inch submarine pipeline, 1.7 km length of 30-inch pipeline from the refinery to the offshore export platform, and 105 km of 32-inch submarine pipeline for transferring gas and gaseous condensates in two phases to the coast-based refinery.
The onshore facilities include units for reception and separation of gas and gaseous condensates, stabilization of gaseous condensates, sweetening, dehydration, mercaptan treating, dew pointing and condensing for the transfer, recycling and freezing of sulfur.

Implementation of phases two and three of South Pars Gas Field development has been granted on a buy-back arrangement to a consortium of Total, Gazprom and Petronas. Completion of these phases will lead to a daily exploitation of 80,000 barrels of gaseous condensates, 400 tons of sulfur and 52 million cu.m of refined natural gas. Based on the provisions of this contract, operations will be fully completed by October 2002 and exploitation of the field will be conducted in four consecutive stages. Also, transfer of gas and gaseous condensates to the refinery will take place in three phases.
The offshore installations include two rigs for drilling 20 development wells, two submarine pipelines each with a diameter of 32 inches and two other pipelines each with a diameter of 4.5 inches, running for 105 km. Also, a gas refinery is being built to operate at a capacity of 2000 million cubic feet. The refinery will house units for reception and separation of gas and gaseous condensates, stabilization of gaseous condensates, sweetening, dehydration, mercaptan treating, dew pointing and condensing for the transfer, recycling and freezing of sulfur. There will also be a restoration unit of mono-ethylene glycol for injection.

Implementation of phases 4 and 5 of South Pars Gas Field development has been awarded to a partnership of AGIP and Petropars companies through a buy-back contract. Completion of these phases will lead to a daily exploitation of 50 million cu.m of natural gas, 80,000 barrels of gaseous condensates, 1.05 million tons of LPG for export, 71 million cubic feet of ethane and 400 tons of sulfur. Based on the provisions of this contract, the project will be completed and operational in 2005.
Offshore facilities of these phases include two four-pillar platforms, two three-pillar flaring platforms, two submarine pipelines with 32 inches of diameter and 105 km of length, and two other pipelines with 4 inches of diameter and 105 km of length.
The onshore establishments include a gas refinery plus facilities and a 56-inch pipeline for the transfer of gas through 80 km.

Development of phases 6, 7 and 8 of South Pars Gas Field development has been planned to produce 80 million cu.m per day of sour gas for injection purposes, 120,000 barrels of gaseous condensates per day and 1.2 million tons of LPG per year. These phases will have three marine platforms, each to be used for drilling 10 production wells. The yield of these platforms will be transferred to the onshore installations via three pipelines each running as long as 105 km with a diameter of 32 inches. At the same time, a gas refinery will be commissioned onshore to operate at a daily capacity of 3000 million cubic feet. The refinery will house units for reception and separation of gas and gaseous condensates, stabilization of gaseous condensates, dehydration of gas, exploitation of liquefied gas, dew pointing and condensing in order to transfer gas. These phases will be completed by January 2006.

Preliminary negotiations in legal and technical terms are under way with international companies to sign buy-back or finance contracts for development of these two phases. Similar to phases 4 and 5, implementation of these phases will lead to exploitation of 2000 million cubic feet of gas.

Development of phases 11 and 12 of South Pars Gas Field aims at exploiting 80,000 barrels of gaseous condensates plus 55 million cu.m of gas per day. Preliminary negotiations in legal and technical terms continue with international companies to sign buy-back or finance contracts.