North Pars holds more than 57 tcf of gas. Senior Iranian oil officials recently introduced North Pars along with tens of other projects up for investment as a new model of oil contracts – Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) – was unveiled.
Development of North Pars gas field is estimated to need more than $16 billion in investment. Of this, $5 billion will go to upstream and $11 billion will go to downstream (LNG plants) sectors.
North Pars gas field was discovered in 1963 following a 3D seismic test. After that, six exploration, appraisal and development wells were envisaged to be drilled before the field could be developed.
In the years preceding the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Exxon and Lands were in charge of building structures for the development of North Pars. These activities continued until the development of North Pars came to a halt after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
North Pars was then considered to be the largest gas reservoir in Iran and it received investment quickly. But after the discovery of the supergiant South Pars gas field, shared with Qatar, North Pars become the second priority for Iran’s petroleum industry.
South Pars gas field is in its final phases of development. Then comes North Pars.
A review of North Pars shows that 17 wells have so far been drilled and 26 offshore platforms have been installed in the field. However, development of the field has yet to start.
North Pars, whose production capacity equals four phases of South Pars, can produce 3,600 mcf/d of gas on a constant basis. Recovery of this amount of gas needs the drilling of 46 wells.
The field is forecast to keep producing gas on a constant daily basis over 25 years, buts its production will continue for 35 years. The recovery rate of this field is around 61%.
According to plans, the gas produced in this field is expected to be used in the LNG plants so that Iran would be producing 20 million tons a year of liquefied natural gas.
Deep 4,000 meters underground, this field sprawls on an area measuring 25 kilometers long and 20 kilometers wide. The dome-shaped field has a slope less than 20 degrees.
North Pars holds sour gas and gas condensate amounting to 4 barrels per million cubic feet of gas from the carbonated reservoir rock.
The gas field contains more than 57 tcf of gas, 72% of which is located in the upper reservoir.
Rokneddin Javadi, deputy minister of petroleum and CEO of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said one of post-sanctions objectives is financing and recruitment of manpower for new projects. He said that North Pars is a priority in this regard.
The development of North Pars has been defined in four phases, each having an output of 1.2 billion cubic feet. All the four phases of North Pars would be supplying 4.8 bcf of gas.
According to plans, LNG production from one phase of this field will belong to Iran, while the sale of LNG produced from two other phases will belong to foreign investor.
The gas produced from one of the phases of this field will be used for domestic consumption and injection.
Source: Iran Petroleum Monthly
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