Three Energy Megaprojects Come on Stream

IRAN NEWS NATIONAL DESK

TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani on Monday inaugurated three national large projects in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries.

Marking the Government Week, President Rouhani inaugurated the three megaprojects at a videoconference on Monday morning.

Implemented with a total investment of €4.7 billion, the projects include the development and improvement of the gas dispatching site and a series of gas pipelines in the national network, the first phase of Bushehr petrochemical plant, as well as a 500-MW combined cycle power plant in West Karun and its adjoining power transfer equipment and station.

The 1,200-km pipelines from the sixth section of the national gas network have the capacity to transfer 110 million cubic meters of gas from the South Pars gas field to the western provinces every day.

Another pipeline in the ninth section of the countrywide network stretches for 125 kilometers from the western areas of Behbahan into the Bazargan border crossing and north of Maku in northwestern Iran to supply 60 million cubic meters of gas per day.

The new pipeline would ensure sustainable gas supplies in the country’s cold regions and would also allow for the exports and energy exchanges with the regional countries.

The first phase of Bushehr petrochemical plant includes gas sweetening section and shops producing ethane, methanol, oxygen, and 9.6 million cubic meters of input per day for the South Pars refineries.

The 500-MW West Karun combined cycle power plant is also the other major project that would generate power for the oil and gas fields west of Karun River, including the North and South Azadegan as well as North and South Yaran oilfields.

The project also includes electricity transition equipment and gas pressure reduction station at the power plant.

Addressing the ceremony, President Rouhani highlighted his administration’s major achievements in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries, saying the country’s natural gas delivery system is globally unique.

In remarks at a videoconference, he said his administration’s great achievements in the oil and gas sector would serve the Iranian nation and the next administrations.

“This administration has done great jobs in the oil and gas industries and in the joint fields,” he noted, adding that all but one of the phases in the South Pars gas field have come on stream and Iran has become self-sufficient in producing gasoline and diesel.

The president also said his administration has increased gas extraction from the joint gas fields by 2.5 times, while the crude output from the common oilfields has risen by around 6 times.

The oil output at the joint oilfields has increased from 70,000 to 400,000 barrels per day, President Rouhani stated, adding that the daily gas production has also reached one billion cubic meters.

The administration has connected 17,000 villages to the national gas network and runs at least 89 power plants with gas, he added.

Natural gas has great significance in the country, the president stressed ,saying Iran consumes around 800 million cubic meters of gas in the wintertime, which is equivalent to 5 million barrels of oil.

The president finally pointed to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei’s emphasis on preventing the sale of raw materials, saying the administration has taken proper measures in constructing petrochemical plants.