“Projects include installing new air compressors in sulfur recovery units and using new catalysts to increase efficiency of sulfur production, increasing quality and quantity of propane and butane products, using nanotechnology to improve gas sweetening process, and increasing the storage capacity of gas condensate and LPG tankers,” ISNA quoted Ahmad Valipour as saying.
To raise output, the refinery will also receive more gas feedstock through subsea pipelines from Phase 16, he noted, adding that the feedstock will rise by 42%, which will result boost production by the same percentage.
South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf, consisting of offshore and onshore facilities, provides almost two-thirds of the country's demand for natural gas.
Divided into 24 phases, SP is the world's largest gas field, shared between Iran and Qatar, covering an area of 3,700 square kilometers of Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.
With development programs underway across phases, Iran will produce over 750 million cubic meters of natural gas from South Pars by next March.
Reducing Gas Flares
Valipour also pointed to his refinery’s efforts to help safeguard the environment last year, which led to a 50% reduction in gas flaring compared to the year.
With off-gas compressors in place in gas condensate stabilization units, the amount of associated petroleum gases that is burned off at the 6th refinery will be cut further.
Off-gases from refineries often contain components such as diolefins, olefins, CO2, CO, hydrocarbons, H2S, and organic sulfur species – all of which are harmful to the environment and subject to increasingly stricter regulations.
An off-gas compressor converts low-value refinery off-gases into a low-cost petrochemical feedstock by recovering significant amounts of valuable hydrocarbons that would otherwise be burned.
Gas flaring refers to the combustion of associated petroleum gas generated during various processes including oil and gas recovery and petrochemical process.
Flaring is an important safety measure at oil and gas production sites, as it prevents industrial plant equipment from over-pressuring and exploding. However, burning high levels of APG is a major source of pollution.
Iran has prevented the flaring of 12 billion cubic meters of APG, a source of global warming and a waste of valuable fuel, since 2008. Despite the measures, Iran has the highest rate of energy waste in the form of APG in the Middle East.
According to South Pars Gas Complex — the main operator of refineries at the gas field — SPGC is expected to cut gas flaring to zero by 2022 within the framework of "South Pars Sustainable Development Plan" -- a five-year plan of action to curtail gas flaring in the world's largest gas reservoir.