Hoshang Fallahtian, vice minister of oil planning, explained the actions of the 13th government that led to the reduction of gas burning in the country, as well as the oil ministry's future plans to minimize it.
Explaining the country's current gas production and consumption, he said: Currently, about one billion cubic meters of sour gas is harvested daily in the country, and of this figure, about 850 million cubic meters of sweet gas is injected into the national gas grid for various purposes during the cold season of the year.
The Deputy Petroleum Planning Minister added: If the gases are burned in the burner, based on the data, we know 40 million cubic meters, comparing it with the harvested sour gas and the sweet gas injected into the network, shows that the percentages declared on the gas the combustion in the burner is not correct, and yet the same quantity is also very high and can be reduced.
Reducing the combustion of gas in the burner to zero does not make sense
Falahatian specified the possibility of reducing the combustion of the gases sent to the burner: it is not necessarily possible to reduce the combustion of the gases from the burner to zero because the refinery and petrochemical processes are based on existing standards of such so the burner acts as a safety valve and if the gas from the burner is not released an explosion will occur. So some processes naturally have flare gas.
He adds: Of course, some processes that constantly have flare gases need to be managed, and these gases are divided into two general categories, gases associated with petroleum and gases from gas refineries. In the first category, we are talking about gases associated with oil. , for which in one year Over the past semester, good deeds have been undertaken and past projects have been accelerated.
The Deputy Minister of Petroleum Planning said of the amount of petroleum-associated gas eliminated by the actions of the 13th government: With the package of measures taken, by the end of 2021, we have reduced the amount of flare gas of about 1.5 million cubic meters. per day.
Recover 50% of oil gas burners by the end of next year
Falahatian also spoke about ongoing projects in the field of flare gas collection with oil and their status: According to plans, by the end of this year or the beginning of next year, the equivalent 8.2 million cubic meters of gas will be collected. daily flares, and in 2023 daily an additional 18.2 million cubic meters will be added to this amount, and for 2024 an additional 17 million cubic meters per day and in 2025 will be reduced by 7 million cubic meters per day.
He elaborated on this amount of gas which is supposed to be collected by 2024: In fact, we plan to collect 50% of the gas from the burner by the end of next year, and at the end of the horizon 2024, the rest of these gases will be collected.
In describing the ongoing projects in this regard, the Deputy Minister of Petroleum Planning said: Now the NGL 3100 project is one of the flare gas collection plans, which is progressing at 78%, and with its completion, 5.5 million cubic meters of flare gas. will be removed, and NGL 3200 is around 6. It is collecting 3 million cubic meters of flare gas and this plan is 94.5% advanced, we have the plan to send flare gas to Khark NGL, which also collects 7.5 million cubic meters and is currently 65% progressed.
Falahatian highlighted Mashaal Bidbland gas facility optimization plan in the Persian Gulf and said: This plan is being implemented with $1.1 billion investment and has 36% progress. East Karun gas collection facility is also implemented, and the progress was 36%.
Investor Entry into Oilfield Flare Gas Gathering Projects
He continued with an explanation of the current plans: I must mention the oil fields whose flare gas auctions have ended and now the investor is working.
These fields include Parsi Cluster, Maron 3, Mansouri, Maron 6, Naft Shahr and Somar, Sarvostan and Saadat Abad, Cheshme Khosh and Gharb Karun fields, whose contracts have been signed and a total of 5.18 million cubic meters of gas is collected daily.
The deputy oil minister also pointed to the fields whose auctions are underway and clarified: for the clay fields, the Suleiman mosque and the Salman platform, auctions are conducted by the National Iranian Oil Company. , which is equivalent to 5.6 million cubic meters of gas collection. We are considering and implementing all these plans, we hope to be able to collect 50% of the gas related to the oil production sector in the next two years, and the remaining 50% will be eliminated by 2022.