The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has signed a contract worth $1.78 billion with compatriot Petropars Group for the development of Farzad B gas field in the Persian Gulf.
Iranian Oil Ministry website Shana and the NIOC said on Monday that the deal was signed in a ceremony held in the presence of the Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh in Tehran.
The CEO of the Pars Oil and Gas Company Mohammad Meshkinfam signed the document on behalf of the NIOC together with Hamid Reza Masoudi , the CEO of Petropars Group.
The purpose of this buyback contract is to achieve a daily production of 28 million cubic meters of sour gas over five years.
The massive contract entails drilling eight production wells, construction and installation of two main and secondary wellhead platforms, and the construction of liquid separation facilities on the main platform.
Petropars will also construct a 36-inch offshore pipeline of approximately 230 kilometres to transfer sour fluid from the main platform to onshore facilities as well as a 10-inch offshore pipeline around 230 kilometres long to transport condensate to land.
Another pipeline will be constructed, 20 inches in diameter, to connect the three platforms with a length of 3 kilometres.
Petropars will also be in charge of constructing other offshore facilities including receiving equipment for the produced sour fluid and condensate separation along with ancillary facilities and onshore pipelines for the transfer and distribution of sour gas and condensate to refineries located in the Pars 2 region in Kangan for processing.
In the onshore facility, the gas condensate will first be separated from the sour gas and then transferred to the South Pars Refineries of Phases 12 and 19 for stabilization.
The Farzad B joint gas field is in the Farsi block on the border between Iran and Saudi Arabia and at a distance of about 20 kilometres from Farsi Island.
According to the Pars Oil and Gas Company, the amount of gas in place in the field is estimated at 23,000 billion cubic feet. The gas condensate is estimated at 5,000 barrels per billion cubic feet of gas.
Indian companies led by ONGC Videsh discovered the field in 2008 but talks on development rights came to nothing after former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 international nuclear pact with Iran three years ago and reimposed U.S. sanctions against Tehran.