DMEA: Final train launched SP Phase 14 refinery

Iranian media reported this week that the fourth and final train at the South Pars Phase 14 refinery had started production. Deputy Minister of Petroleum and National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) CEO Mohsen Khojastehmehr announced the initial start-up of the refinery in March 2022, upon receiving raw sour gas from the offshore field. South Pars is split into 24 offshore development phases and 14 onshore gas refineries which process the gas produced offshore.

Khojastehmehr said at the time that the first phase of the refinery began at a processing capacity of 14.2mn cubic metres per day of gas and around 10,000 barrels per day (bpd) of condensates.

It was also said that production would ramp up to 56 mcm per day once the remaining three refining units were commissioned.

Announcement of start-up fell on the eve of the Iranian New Year (Nowruz) and in line with comments in January from Phase 14 project manager Mohammad-Mehdi Tavasoli-Pour while launching the third train that the facility would be completed by the end of the year.

The second train was commissioned in November last year.

The upstream phase 14 has a production capacity of 56 mcm per day of gas, 75,000 bpd of condensate, 400 tonnes per day of sulphur and a combined 1mn tonne per year (tpy) of LPG and ethane.

The LPG and ethane are used as feedstock by petrochemicals producers in the Pars Special Economic Zone (PSEZ).

The refinery’s launch means that the only remaining section of the South Pars development is the upstream Phase 11, which was expected to begin production in 2022.

The South Pars and North Dome fields, located in the Persian Gulf, are shared between Iran and Qatar and cover an area of 9,700 square km. South Pars, 3,700 square km in size, is situated in Iran’s territorial waters, whereas the remaining 6,000 square km, called North Dome, belong to Qatar.