TEHRAN (Iran News) Speaking to IRNA, Sepahdar Abbaszadeh provided detailed updates on the company’s ambitious program to overhaul 35 offshore oil and gas platforms in South Pars during the current operational year.

Abbaszadeh explained that the annual overhaul of South Pars platforms is strategically scheduled in the first half of the year to ensure the company – which supplies more than 70% of the country’s gas consumption and over 40% of its gasoline – is fully prepared for the colder months. “Overhauls generally start in April or early May and continue through the end of October,” he said. “This year, we planned to complete 35 overhauls. So far, 16 have been finalized, one is in progress, and the rest will be completed on schedule.”

According to Abbaszadeh, the duration of each overhaul varies depending on the scope of work required for each platform. Up to this stage, 6,150 work orders have been registered and executed, consuming a total of 54,759 man-hours.

Key tasks in the overhaul program include replacing 32-inch pipeline bends, repairing and replacing heavy 15-ton valves, inspecting and repairing high-pressure vessels, testing and calibrating platform control systems, inspecting and servicing flare ignition and lighting systems, and calibrating safety valves that regulate pressure.

Despite the extensive nature of the work, gas production has been maintained at maximum levels. At any given time, only two to four platforms are taken offline for maintenance, while the remainder continue operating at full capacity to meet the domestic and industrial gas demand.

“These activities are carried out in extremely challenging conditions in the intense summer heat of the Persian Gulf,” Abbaszadeh noted. “Our specialists and personnel work tirelessly to ensure the nation can benefit from the full capacity of this shared gas field during winter.”

Addressing the impact of international sanctions on the procurement of parts and equipment, Abbaszadeh acknowledged the challenges but emphasized the industry’s resilience. “While the effects of sanctions are undeniable, we have been able to domestically produce more than 90% of the parts required for our operations, thanks to localization efforts and the capabilities of Iranian knowledge-based companies,” he said.

All components that could no longer be imported due to sanctions have been manufactured domestically using top-grade materials and in accordance with international standards. “The quality and efficiency of our platforms have not been compromised,” he stressed. Many sophisticated parts that were once imported are now produced or repaired locally, making domestic products a viable replacement for foreign ones.

Abbaszadeh highlighted that while Iran still has progress to make to reach the top global benchmarks, continuous advancement and perseverance in the face of challenges remain the oil industry’s greatest strengths. “We are steadily localizing even the most sensitive gas industry components, including those used inside wells, with the help of Iran’s young specialists,” he added.

He also pointed to the team’s ability to maintain operations during recent security tensions and a 12-day conflict in the region. “Even under those conditions, not a single day of production or overhaul work was halted,” he said. Transportation of personnel and equipment was severely hindered due to the suspension of helicopter flights, forcing teams to rely on marine vessels. In some cases, staff traveled up to 48 hours overland to reach the offshore facilities along the Iran-Qatar maritime border – yet operations continued without disruption.

Abbaszadeh praised the relentless efforts of the Pars Oil and Gas Company workforce, noting that nearly 100% of Iranian households now enjoy access to natural gas. “With ongoing improvements, we hope to further enhance the country’s gas supply in the coming years,” he concluded.

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Razavi said that Russia’s Deputy Minister of Transport met and held talks with the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, Mohammad Mohammadi-Bakhsh.

Iranian and Russian officials at the meeting stressed the need to intensify bilateral cooperation in air transport, he said.

During the meeting, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed on increasing the frequency of flights between the two countries, on the basis of which the number of passenger flights between the two countries increased to 35 per week, Razavi stressed.

According to the signed document, the airlines of the two countries are allowed to operate cargo flights without capacity restrictions under the above agreement.

It was also decided to sign an agreement on cooperation with Russia within the framework of providing the possibility of exporting parts and equipment manufactured in Iran to Russia, as well as providing repair and maintenance services and technical support for Russian aircraft by Iranian repair centers, Razavi added.

Under the MoU, airlines of the two countries are allowed to operate cargo flights without capacity restrictions within the framework of the above agreement.

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The facility, the first nuclear power plant in Iran, came back online after it was shut down in early April for fuel change and repair by Iranian technicians without the help of Russians who have built it, Press TV reported.

“For the first time, the annual fuel change and periodic repairs of the main equipment at Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant were carried out by the capable specialists of this advanced nuclear power plant, and the power plant was reconnected to the national electricity grid after successful tests,” AEOI said.

“With the summertime peak consumption period just beginning, the plant successfully resumed electricity generation on Sunday and hooked up with the national electricity grid,” it added.

Sunday marked the start of summer in the Iranian calendar, during which many consumers crank up their air conditioners amid sizzling temperatures which see the mercury hit 50°C in some southern cities.

According to Director of Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant Reza Banazadeh, fuel change is “a very sensitive and complex process” which is carried out by skilled Iranian operators.

They use a robot to discharge one-third of fuel and load new uranium fuel rods to the core of the reactor after a series of specialized activities, he added.

For Iran, this is a big feat. AEOI spokesman, Behrouz Kamalvandi, had said in May that Iran would probably cut its dependence on Russian engineers and become self-sufficient in maintenance in the Bushehr plant by 2022.

The task was successfully carried out especially at a time when the coronavirus outbreak this year has left Iran with some constrains for using domestic and foreign contractors at the site, Banazadeh said.

“By turning this restriction into a valuable opportunity and relying on the knowledge and responsibility of the power plant’s committed personnel as per a precise planning, the periodic repair of the plant’s main equipment was carried out by the capable forces of this huge industrial complex with minimal utilization of contracting services.”

It shows that Iran can continue to advance despite difficulties, Banazadeh said.

The plant, built with a capacity to produce 1,000 megawatts of power, started adding electricity to the national grid in September 2011.

Iran began building two more nuclear reactors in a joint project with Russia’s Rosatom State Atomiс Energy Corporation in Bushehr, southern Iran, in November 2017.

The country’s aim is to build nuclear power plants with 20,000 megawatts of capacity to meet the growing domestic electricity demand, so it can save its hydrocarbons for exports.

According to the AEOI chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, as a result of the Bushehr plant’s operations, some 11 million barrels of crude oil are saved annually. It also helps reduce up to seven million tons of gas emissions every year.

“Since the cost of constructing a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant is $5,000 billion, we need to invest $100,000 billion to build nuclear power plants with a capacity to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity,” Salehi said.

Russia has been involved in Iran’s nuclear power generation efforts more than any country. It is currently supplying the nuclear fuel used at Bushehr, but Iran has said it wants to make its own fuel to have secure supplies in the future.

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Ahmad Valipour as mentioning October as the date, told IRNA that the overhaul of the South Pars refinery will help stabilize gas output in Assaluyeh, southern Iranian province of Bushehr.

The official said the repair operations are expected to be completed by March 2021, adding, therefore, the refinery will not need to undergo any major overhaul in the next year.

“In addition, the planning for the overhaul has been done in such a way to help improve the refinery’s accessibility and operational efficiency indices in the near future.”

On May 31, Valipour said feedstock supply to the refinery will increase by 42 percent by March 2021.

He said that the refinery drew up strategic plans last year to maximize, stabilize, and improve productivity in the South Pars, which is shared between Iran and Qatar.

The South Pars is the world’s largest gas field, covering an area of 3,700 square kilometers in Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.

The giant field is estimated to contain a significant amount of natural gas, accounting for about eight percent of the world’s reserves, and approximately 18 billion barrels of condensate.

The field is divided into 24 standard phases that send the extracted gas to 14 onshore refineries.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Over 97,000 megawatt (MW) capacity of Iran’s thermal power plants are undergoing a general overhauling program to get ready for next year’s peak period demand, announced a Thermal Power Plants Holding Company (TPPH) official.

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