Iran will begin gas recovery from Phase 11 of the supergiant South Pars gas field in the second half of the next Iranian calendar year which begins on March 21, 2021, an official with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said.

Reza Dehghan, the NIOC Deputy CEO for Development and Engineering Affairs said this week that the original contract for developing the project had been signed with a consortium of Total, CNPCI and Petropars but the first two developers pulled out of the project due to reasons that were out of control of the NIOC. Therefore, development of the project was fully awarded to Petropars.

He said that 40 work packages have been defined for implementation of phase 11 drilling operations, adding: "Last year, preliminary preparations and engineering studies were complete and tenders were held, and the first jacket of phase 11 development project was installed near the zero-point of the border with Qatar. The drilling rig was placed on the jacket, and today we are ready for drilling operations and we expect that by drilling 5 or 6 wells, the first stage of gas extraction will be achieved next [calendar] year."

The official stated: "In total, the development plan of phase 11 has 24 wells, two platforms and a gas flow pipeline to the coast, and the second platform will be installed in another location."

Dehghan stated that the cost of this operation was about $500 million, adding: "The project was originally supposed to be financed by a foreign investor, which according to the existing conditions, the National Iranian Oil Company will tap internal instruments and resources like sale of participation bonds."

Noting that the platform would be installed in the first half of next year, he said: "According to the plans made at the beginning of the second half of the next calendar year, we will reach the gas production stage."

In the end, the NIOC Deputy CEO for Development and Engineering Affairs stated the initial design of the second platform has been carried out and the construction process, which will take about 2 years, will begin soon.

KeyFacts Energy: NIOC Iran country profile