The Kish gas field is located below Kish Island in the Persian Gulf, Iran. Image Courtesy of Pesare amol.
The Kish offshore field was discovered in 2006 by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). Image courtesy of PEDEC.
The processed gas from Kish refinery will be transmitted to the IGAT-7 pipeline (Peace pipeline).

Drilling operations on this phase commenced in August 2012

Located below Kish Island in Persian Gulf, Iran, Kish Gas Field has been under development since 2012. The field was discovered in 2006 by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and is the world’s fifth biggest offshore gas field.

The Iranian Ministry of Petroleum for Planning and Supervision on Hydrocarbon Reserves selected Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC) in October 2011 to perform development activities at the field.

PEDEC will develop the field in three phases at an estimated cost of $2.2bn. The first phase is expected to be operational by November 2015, according to Iranian news agencies. Final drilling was in progress as of October 2014.

Drilling operations on this phase began in August 2012. The first phase of the field is expected to produce three to five billion cubic feet of gas, 45,000 barrels of gas condensates and 2.9 billion cubic feet of low-density gas a day.

Financing the Kish gas field development

In July 2010, NIOC signed a $10bn deal with a domestic consortium for the development of the field. The Bank Mellat-consortium will provide financing for the project.

The funding for upstream activities will be handled by NIOC and downstream by a consortium of Iranian banks and financers.

Gas and condensate reserves at the Iranian field

Kish gas field is estimated to have reserves of 66 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of in-situ natural gas and 514 million barrels of gas condensate. Recoverable gas and condensate reserves are estimated at 45tcf and 331 million barrels respectively.

Kish gas field development and infrastructure

"NIOC signed a $10bn deal with a domestic consortium for the development of the field in July 2010."

Phase I of the Kish gas field will include a development plan to enable production of one billion cubic feet of gas from the reservoir.
It will include drilling of 13 production wells, overhauling of one onshore well and construction and installation of two drilling rigs. It will also include construction of refinery facilities, gas transmission pipelines, reservoirs and infrastructure facilities such as electric power plants, water treatment plants, an industrial effluent treatment plant and roads. Four delineation wells will be drilled, with two of them 6km south-west of Kish Island.

Geological studies on the reservoir, examination and evaluation of surface facilities, and economic feasibility studies for the field will be also performed during the first phase of the project.

The second and third development phases of the field will produce one billion cubic feet of gas a day each when completed.

Pipelines will be constructed to allow transportation of up to three billion cubic feet of gas per day. The pipelines will transport the sour gas to the mainland refineries for processing. The mainland refineries will have a processing capacity to produce 2.7 billion cubic feet of light gas and 45,000 barrels of condensate.

Processing gas from Iran’s Kish field

Gas produced by Kish will be transferred to gas refinery to further produce light gas and condensate.

"The second and third development phases of the field will produce one billion cubic feet of gas per day each when completed."

A ten kilometre land pipeline will transfer the output gas to the Kish Island’s coast. The gas will be transported to mainland from coast via a 17km offshore pipeline. A 3km onshore pipeline will carry the gas further to the mainland refinery.

The refinery will process the gas to produce light gas, which will be transmitted via a 94km-long, 56in-diameter pipeline to the seventh cross-country (IGAT-7) pipeline of Iran.

The condensate produced during gas processing will be transmitted to the single buoy mooring (SBM) in the Persian Gulf via a 5km-long offshore pipeline.

Sustainability measures at the Kish offshore project

The Kish gas refinery will be built in the mainland Garzeh region near Aftab port to reduce environmental impacts at Kish Island.

Contractors involved with the Iranian field development

Arya Petro Gas will provide engineering and procurement services for three gas turbine centrifugal compressors of export unit, off-gas reciprocating compressors and API centrifugal pumps of the Kish gas refinery. The company will also provide services for MEG injection reciprocating pumps, fire water pumps, fuel gas system and PDCS system for the Kish gas refinery.

Drilling operations have been contracted to National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC).

PEDEC signed an agreement with Nardis, Farab and Namaran in April 2012 on behalf of NIOC. The agreement includes construction of a refinery unit and gas transport lines. The $1.7bn contract includes procurement of engineering support services for the project.

Tarh-O-Palayesh Engineering Company (TOP), RAMPCO, FARAFAN ZAGROS, Tavanshargh, Jahan Pars, Khalkhal-Dasht, Sadr Sobhan, Varj, Hormozgan Electric Distribution, Khalkhal-Dasht and Boostan Rah will manage the construction of refinery facilities and gas transmission pipelines.

Petro Pars Zagros Consulting and Kand-o-kav Energy Pars (KEP) will provide drilling services for the delineation wells. Drilling services for the onshore wells will be provided by National Iranian Drilling, Kousha Metal Industry (KMI) and Kish Oil.

NRI Energy Technology

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