Modular Refining Units to Help Raise Iran's South Azadegan Oil Output

EghtesadOnline: To raise crude output in shared reservoirs with Iraq, Iran's Petroleum Engineering and Development Company is installing skid-mounted modular mini refining units in South Azadegan Oilfield in Khuzestan Province, managing director of the firm said.

News ID: ۷۴۶۶۲۶

04 February 2019

"The units will come on stream by March after which refining capacity from the field will rise by 50,000 barrels per day," Touraj Dehqani was quoted as saying by the National Iranian Oil Company news portal on Sunday.

A modular refinery is a unit whose parts are constructed in modules with capacities ranging from 500 to 50,000 bpd. Modular mini refineries, ranging from simple diesel production units to more sophisticated cracking refineries, are becoming a flexible and cost-effective supply option for crude producers in remote regions.

Pointing to the field's current output at 100,000 bpd, Dehqani said the field produced 30,000 bpd in 2017, according to Financial Tribune.

"Drilling 52 wells in 2018 added 70,000 bpd to the output," he noted, asserting that the reservoir's output will reach 150,000 bpd by March.

At $60 a barrel, the rise will increase NIOC's annual revenues by $1 billion.

South Azadegan is estimated to hold 33 billion barrels of oil in place. It is part of the West Karoun oil block in Khuzestan, which holds 67 billion barrels of oil.

Iran shares oil and gas reservoirs with neighboring countries, including several oil deposits with Iraq that shares a 1,400km border with Iran to the west.