MEOG: Supporting gas and oil drives

This week’s MEOG looks at work to expand the production of gas in Iran and that of oil in the UAE.

Iran is expected to begin commissioning on the final offshore phase of the supergiant South Pars gas field development programme by the end of September as it seeks to boost gas availability.

Speaking to the official state energy media outlet Shana, the newly appointed CEO of Petropars, Seyed Shamsedin Mousavi, said that the first part of South Pars 11 (SP11) would be launched before the second quarter of the next Iranian calendar year, which will end on September 22.

Mousavi’s predecessor Hamidreza Masoudi said earlier last month that the implementation of two new contracts for an offshore pipeline and installation work at the SPD11B platform would speed up the offshore development.

“The engineering, procurement and implementation activities corresponding to these two contracts have officially started,” Masoudi said.

The overall South Pars development includes 37 platforms across the field’s 24 phases to produce 700mn cubic metres per day at present of Iran’s 1bn cubic metre per day total. Tehran is aiming to increase output from South Pars to 1 bcm per day as quickly as possible but requires significant investment to maintain and add to production.

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) announced this week that its drilling arm had added two more rigs to its fleet, taking the total number to 99, with the new units due to work at two of the UAE’s most important oil assets.

A statement released to press said: “ADNOC Drilling is introducing two more offshore jack-up rigs, bringing its rig fleet to 99 – already the largest in the region.”

The rigs will be mobilised at the Lower Zakum and Umm Shaif oilfields. The latter was the subject of a $946mn engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract awarded to the local National Petroleum Construction Co. (NPCC) that aims to maintain oil flows at the current level of 275,000 barrels per day (bpd).

“With this, ADNOC Drilling cements its position as the region’s largest national drilling company, boosting its ability to deliver on ADNOC’s production capacity growth and driving its ambition to expand beyond the UAE’s borders,” the company said.