Iran Curbs Nearly 1bn m3/yr Flaring
Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani inaugurated a gas processing unit with 827mn m3/yr capacity to curb flaring at several oil fields on Geshm Island, the country’s oil ministry announced March 1.
According to the report, the plan so far has been collecting 2mn m3/d (equivalent to 730mn m3/yr) of associated gas from the Hengam sour oil field since mid-January and all of the necessary tests have been done. The gas contains 18,000 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur, which is a concentration 3.6 times higher than gas in Iran’s largest sour gas deposit South Pars. The plant is able to reduce the concentration to 3 ppm, the ministry said.
Iran's total flaring stood at 16.4bn m3 for 2016, according to World Bank estimates, which was around 4.3bn m3 more than in 2015.
There are other 16 small oil fields in Geshm and near islands. Hengam oil field, located on an Iranian island only 50-60km from Geshm, contains 56bn m3 associated gas.
Iran spent above $85mn on the afore-mentioned processing unit to achieve savings of $300mn/yr from curbing flares, Iranian Offshore Oil Company, the project’s operator said. The processed gas is to be delivered to power plants and the industrial sector in Geshm, Iran’s biggest island. Geshm (or Qeshm) island is in strategically important Strait of Hormuz, the narrow shipping channel that must be used by all vessels entering or leaving the Persian (or Arabian) Gulf.