Phase 14 of South Pars gas field fully developed with giant rig installation

Iran has concluded its fully home-grown efforts for development of a major part of the world’s largest gas field with installation of a supersize drilling rig in the Persian Gulf.

Videos published on Sunday showed Iranian engineers and technicians monitoring how the 2,400-ton platform was mounted on an offshore gas well located in southern Iranian waters.

That marked the end of major plan for development of all sections of Phase 14 of the sprawling South Pars gas field, a reserve Iran shares with Qatar.

The drilling rig, dubbed SPD-14D, has been built by Iran Marine Industrial Company (SADRA), a company where the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has the controlling shares.

Iran’s Petropars signing deals on South Pars phase 11 development: Minister

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The IRGC is blacklisted by the United States, making it difficult for the elite military force to access foreign technology and equipment for its construction projects in Iran.

However, SADRA, staffed by qualified Iranian technicians, has been contracted by Iran’s Oil Ministry for building 10 major oil and gas platforms. The company is also responsible for complicated transport operations of the supersize rigs, as well as their installation at sea.

Reports said it took one week for the SPD-14D platform to reach its installation site which is some 100 kilometers off the port of Kangan in the Persian Gulf.

The completion of development plans for phase 14 of South Pars enables Iran to extract as much as 56 million cubic meters (mcm) per day of gas from that single section of the giant gas field. Total production from South Pars is currently around 630 mcm and is expected to near 700 mcm by March.

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