Iran Says It Exports First Condensate From New South Pars Phase

Iran has delivered for export the first shipment from a new development phase of the giant gas field South Pars, including 300,000 barrels of condensate, Iranian media report, quoting the operator of the South Pars phase 13 project.

The delivery of the cargo for export was made last week, before Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani officially inaugurated four new phases of development at South Pars.

This past weekend, Rouhani officially launched four new development phases at the giant South Pars offshore gas field, which will add 110 million cubic meters to the daily output of the field. The expansion costs US$11 billion, Reuters reports.

Last week, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said that South Pars would produce from 27 phases of development within a year.  

After the U.S. sanctions on its oil industry returned and forced international companies to withdraw from doing business with Iran, the Islamic Republic is now developing various phases at the South Pars by itself and claims that it is doing a good job despite the U.S. sanctions.  

France’s supermajor Total had signed a deal to take part in the development of phase 11 of South Pars. But after the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, Total said in May last year that it would not be in a position to continue the South Pars 11 gas project and would have to unwind all related operations before November 4, 2018, unless it was granted a specific project waiver—which it was not.

Iran, for its part, claims that its progress in energy continues despite the U.S. sanctions. At the launch of the new phases at South Pars, Rouhani said that “all the major projects, including the largest gas condensate refinery,” were brought on line, Iranian media report.

“Americans did not want us to inaugurate any important projects during the current year, but we made all projects operational on schedule,” Rouhani said, according to Fars news agency.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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