Iran to launch 10 new refineries in S Pars

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh says 10 new refineries are expected to come on-stream in South Pars region in the south of the country.

Zanganeh said on Saturday that the refineries are to be constructed for phases 12, 15, 16, 17 and 18 of the massive South Pars offshore gas field, which is shared with neighboring Qatar.

He added that six new offshore platforms will also come online in the South Pars region.

Zanganeh predicted that Iran would add 100 million cubic meters per day of gas to its total production by March next year when new phases of South Pars will have become operational.

South Pars covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers are situated in Qatar’s territorial waters.

The gas field is estimated to contain 14 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, about eight percent of the world’s reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of condensate.