Platform 8 was the first of two new rigs planned for Hendijan oilfield, located to the west of the Persian Gulf, where Iran has some key offshore oil reserves, according to Press TV.

The 1,000-ton structure has been fully designed and manufactured inside Iran and installation operation was carried out using domestic expertise, said a report by Oil Ministry’s energy news service Shana.

Production from Hendijan oilfield would increase by 20,000 barrels per day once Platform 7 is installed next week, said the report, adding that the oil rigs would also improve the safety of production while they would allow the use of gas lift and water injection techniques for improved production from the oilfield.

Iran has continued to develop its massive oil and gas sector despite American sanctions that have caused a decline in normal exports.

Expansion activities have continued even at a time of lower international demand for crude that has come as a result of the spread of the new coronavirus pandemic around the world.

Authorities say higher production would meet growing domestic demand while it would ensure a quick return to international markets once foreign pressures are eased.

The Oil Ministry has contracted several Iranian companies for manufacturing supersize drilling rigs to avoid any halt to development projects in the Persian Gulf.

The government says those platforms have been key to nearly a triple increase in gas production in the South Pars gas filed in less than seven years.

Payam Motamed, the director of an Iranian operator running the development of South Pars Phase 13, said the last gas-extracting offshore deck of Phase 13 was held in place on Saturday, reported Tasnim News Agency.

The megastructure weighs approximately 2,500 tons and was manufactured by Iran Marine Industrial Company (SADRA) in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, he added.

The platform was carried with a local barge to the installation point near the common maritime boundary with Qatar in the Persian Gulf, Motamed noted.

In April 2017, the South Pars phases 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 were inaugurated by Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani.

The gas field, whose development was divided into 28 phases, is located in the Persian Gulf straddling the maritime border between Iran and Qatar.

It covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, of which 3,700 square kilometers belongs to Iran.

It is estimated that the Iranian section of the field contains 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of in-situ condensates.

The giant third gas-extracting offshore platform of South Pars Phase 13, known as platform 13-A, was held in place on Monday morning, reported Tasnim News Agency.

The new structure’s daily capacity of gas extraction is 14.2 million cubic meters.

The fourth platform of Phase 13 is also going to be installed within the next few days.

The homegrown platforms have been manufactured by Iran Marine Industrial Company also known as SADRA, based in Bandar Abbas.

In January, Ali-Asghar Sadeqi, the deputy operator of the phases 22-24 development project said that after the installation and implementation of the third platform of the phases 22, 23, 24 of the field’s development project, sour gas from this platform has been transported to the refinery via pipelines.

Mentioning the fact that all the operations regarding the construction, loading, and installation of the mentioned platform were carried out by Iranian experts, Sadeqi said the hookup operations of the platform were done over two weeks despite the unstable weather conditions.

He further noted that considering the production of 28 mcm of gas from the two previously installed platforms of the phases 22-24, the total daily output of the mentioned phases has now reached 42 mcm.

The platform SPD-23, which is the third platform of the phases 22, 23, 24 of South Pars Gas Field development project was installed at its designated offshore place in Phase 23 in mid-November 2019.

South Pars Gas Field, which Iran shares with Qatar in the Persian Gulf, covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which, called South Pars, are in Iran’s territorial waters. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, called North Dome, are situated in Qatar’s territorial waters.

The 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.