TOP STORIES

India keen to develop Iran’s SP Phase 12

An Indian oil and gas del-egation started negotiations

with Iran on development of Phase 12 of the South Pars field, the managing director of the Pet-ropars Company reported.

According to the agreements made by the sides, the countries will jointly develop the phase to produce LNG, added Gholam-reza Manuchehri. Considering India’s need for liquefied gas, the country predicted a nine-million-ton production of liq-uefied natural gas per annum, he added. “Despite India’s eager-ness to develop Jofair oilfield, the talks on the oilfield yielded no result and Iran and Belarus reached an agreement on the project,” said the official.

He added U.S. sanctions on Iran failed to prevent India from investing in the country.

IOEC wins Iran’s SP Phase 12 pipe-laying

tender

The Iranian Offshore Engi-neering and Construction

Company won a tender for pipe-laying operations of the South Pars (SP) Phase 12, an IOEC official reported. Ramin Ashtian, who is in charge of preparing the proposals, said that the project is valued at $753,363,693, pre-dicting that the project will be conducted within 33 months.

He said that the project consists of engineering, purchasing, and laying three 32-inch pipelines, and a 30-inch pipeline for trans-mitting condensates.

By developing the SP Phase 12, 28 million cubic meters of sweet gas would be derived per day.

Iran, Italy to develop LNG project

Italy's Eni and Iran's South Pars Oil and Gas Company,

are holding talks on a new joint LNG project, South Pars Oil and Gas Co. head says.

The remark was made by the Ex-Managing Director of South Pars Oil and Gas Co., Akbar Torkan. Eni and South Pars Oil and Gas Company are already involved in a joint gas devel-opment project. "The operator of phases 19, 20 and 21 of the South Pars gas field development project will participate in one of the proposed LNG projects. Besides, Eni will continue the current project on a `buyback basis'," Torkan said.

Total under pressure

Iranian officials say that the French giant Total must fully

implement the development plan of Doroud 3 oilfield by September 22. The managing director of the Oil Engineering and Development Company said that gas injection into the field had started and if the field had the capacity for injection, it would be handed over to OEDC.

Bazargan said water and gas had been injected into the field separately and we need more time to assess the impacts on oil output which would only gradually emerge.

During the past 40 years, the field has undergone two development operations and the third stage of development is underway in collaboration with Total. Doroud oilfield is one of the three vast fields of Kharg Island.

Recent agreement between Iran and Turkey signed in

order to export Iran's natural gas to Europe was very important, the Iranian Foreign Minister said in a meeting with Turkish Energy Minister Mehmet Hilmi Guler in Tehran.

"By expanding bilateral coop-eration in the field of natural gas, Tehran and Ankara can meet the energy demand of both Europe and the Middle East," Mottaki underlined, expressing hopes that the recent agreements

between the two countries will be implemented. Hilmi Guler, for his part, stated that his visit to Iran was aimed at paving the road for the implementation of a memorandum of understanding (MoU), which Iran and Turkey had signed recently.

The Turkish minister stressed the deal would bring more stabil-ity to the region and help Europe diversify its energy sources.

The two countries signed the MoU early in July regarding the export of Iranian and Turkmen

gas to Europe via Iran and Turkey. The new pipeline is seen as an alternative route for trans-ferring gas to Europe because Europeans believe Russia to be an unreliable partner in providing for their energy needs.

Helmi Guler traveled last week to Tehran to consolidate bilateral energy ties, despite current threats and concerns of US officials about Iran-Turkey bilateral cooperation in the field of energy.

Meanwhile Europe has been in

touch with Ankara over Turkey's agreement with Tehran. Three European energy firms RWE, Gaz de France and Swiss EGL have shown interest to buy gas from the Iranian field that Turkish companies partly plan to develop.

Much to Washington's dismay, European firms are attracted by Iran's energy potentials as a secure source for their long-term energy needs especially when they seek to diversify their imported energy.

Tehran-Ankara cooperation beneficial

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Salman:80,000 bpd by 6 MonthsSalman field will produce 80

thousand barrels of oil within the next six months in case the offshore drilling platforms and other facilities are provided.

“Under current circumstances, Salman has the capacity to yield maximum 65 barrels of oil a day, but the figure, due to shortages, has reduced to 58 thousand barrels,” The production manager of Iranian Offshore Oil Company said.The development plan of Salman oil and gas field has so far had a 93 percent physical progress and will be fully put into practice by Jan. 2008.

The main aim behind the development plan is to increase Salman’s crude oil output through drilling 16 oil wells and 17 wells for water injection, renovat-ing and repairing installations, and installing new pipes for transfer of wellhead oil, and to produce 500 million cubic feet of gas and about 6 thousand barrels of gas condensates per day from Dalan reserve through drilling 9 wells and laying new pipes for transmission of wellhead gas.

Salman gas field is shared by Iran and the UAE. Some 70 percent of the offshore gas field is located in Iranian waters and the remaining 30 percent in the Persian Gulf littoral Arab state.

Salman gas field is situated near Sirri Island in the Persian Gulf. Based on plans, 100 to 500 million CFD of gas will be transferred from Salman gas field to Sirri and from there to the United Arab Emirates once the gas field becomes operational.

Salman field has produced over 185.73 million barrels of oil from the beginning to the previous month, more than 84 thousand barrels per day (bpd) on average.

Record

Glory

SP LPG Cylinder Completed

Iran has successfully com-pleted the final section of

the phases 9 and 10 of Iran's South Pars gas field. Accord-ing to the National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company, the installment of the 4th and final section of the LPG cylinder's ceiling, which was supposed to be concluded later this November, has been successfully executed. Erecting the ceiling of the cylinder, by the means of air pressure, took about 2.5 hours, NIOEC reported. Once operational, phases 9 and 10 are expected to produce 50 million cubic meters of sweet gas, 80,000 barrels of condensates and 400 tons of sulfur per day.

Crude oil prices dropped below $70 a barrel to an eight-week low.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery lost $1.65 to settle at $69.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its lowest close

since June 27.September natural gas, which dropped more than 13 per cent on Monday, fell another 22.3 cents, or 3.7 per cent, to settle at $5.817 per 1,000 cubic feet. October Brent crude fell $1.16 to $68.69 a barrel on the ICE

futures exchange in London.Because of the rocky stock market, the

energy market is betting that energy demand will keep declining, especially as the driving season ends.

Oil prices dip below $70 WEEK REVIEW

Caretaker Minister of Petro-leum Gholam-Hossein

Nozari has announced that exploration of new oil reserves is among the main priorities of his ministry.

"The Ministry of Oil not only will keep production levels at their maximum, it will also attempt to increase capacity.

It also aims at placing natural gas' share in the country's energy basket, expanding international cooperation, supporting domes-tic contractors and restructur-ing," Gholam-Hossein Nozari told the audience attending the valedictory ceremony of former Minister of Petroleum Kazem-Vaziri-Hamaneh.

He also pointed to the great efforts made by Iran's former oil minister, adding that the Oil Ministry will consult with Vaziri-Hamaneh on a regular basis as

he has now been appointed as the president's advisor for the energy sector.

President Mahmoud Ahma-dinejad issued a decree on August 12 naming Nozari, who was the head of the National Iranian Oil Company at the time, as the new caretaker Oil Minister.

He also pointed out that the recovery of new oil fields as the main priority of his ministry.

"Maintaining current produc-tion level, moving toward its increase, expanding gas in Iran's energy basket, developing of international cooperation, and helping domestic contractors, are the next priorities of the Oil Ministry", Nozari said.

Refineries on top agendaIran’s Petroleum Ministry

allocated 20 trillion Rials ($2.1 billion) for boosting the refining capacity, the National Iranian

Oil Refining and Distribution Company reported.

The huge sum will be paid for 12 refineries’ repair projects and 11 optimization projects of oil installations.

The refineries of Abadan, Tehran, Lavan, Tabriz, Bandar Abbas, Arak, Kermanshah, Shiraz, and Isfahan are among the 12 refinery projects.

The 11 projects included oil infrastructures of the areas of Abadan-Mahshahr, Tehran-Tabriz, Isfahan- Marun, Eslam-abad-Isfahan, and Kermanshah, Bandar Abbas Refinery, and other regions.

Meanwhile the managing director of the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) announced that Persian LNG Company will soon be registered in Iran to develop South Pars field’s phases 13-14.

Talking to our reporter, Nos-

ratollah Seifi added that Royal Dutch Shell and Spanish Repsol signed a $4.3 billion contract on the development of the three phases with the aim of producing LNG, whose worth could reach $10 billion.

Referring to the Iran’s gas export to Armenia, he said that the pipeline which will transfer the gas from Iran will be laid by Sept. 22.

The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed a framework deal in 2004 with Shell and Repsol to form the Persian LNG Company.

Persian LNG is the world’s biggest planned LNG project which is in feed stage.

The project consists of devel-opment of phases 13 and 14 of South Pars and construction of two LNG trains, each with a capacity of 8.1 million tons per year.

Oil Ministry to explore new reserves

New Appointees in the ministry

The newly appointed care-taker Minister of Petroleum

Gholam-Hossein Nozari has started major changes in the ministry and its affiliated companies. Nozari replaced his deputy for planning Hadi Nejad Hosseinian with Akbar Torkan.

In a separate decree, Nozari also assigned Hossein Noqrehkar Shirazi as his deputy for international affairs. He has taken the place of Mohammad Reza Moqaddam. Ali Vakili has also been appointed as Managing Director of Pars Oil & Gas Company.

Special

ENERGY AT A GLANCE

Jordan’s Petroleum Imports Drop In 2007

Dolphin Loads First 500,000 Barrel Condensate Export Cargo in Qatar

Syrian Hydrocarbon Reserves Estimated At 6,500Mn Cu Ms of Oil Equivalent

UAE’s AlMansoori Acquires UK Drilling Contractor Target Energy

(P)Gulf Navigation Acquires $110Mn Crude Carrier

Yemen, Sudan to Sign MOU on Cooperation in Oil and Gas

No. 359, New Edition August26, 2007The Weekly Publication of the Iranian Petroleum Industry

From GALILEO to OIL

Heinz Hilbrecht born in 1947. He holds a master’s

degree in economics of Saar-brücken University, started his professional career in the Min-istry for Economic Affairs and Transport of the Saarland. He joined the European Commission in Brussels in 1980 and has had a long and diversified career within the Commission services.Mid April 2006 he took over his new job as Direc-tor for “Conventional Energy Sources” within the Directorate General Energy and Transport. His major task for the current year will be to draft the Commission’s Strategic Energy Review following the Energy Green Paper of last March.Heinz Hilbrecht began his career within the Commis-sion in 1980 already in the energy department, before taking over responsibilities in other policy areas: he worked from 1986 to 1990 at the EU embassy in Washington DC, and from 1990 to 1991 as assistant to the Commission’s Director General for Personnel and Administration in Brussels. He became a Head of Unit in the Directorate General for Transport in 1991 – first for five years in the aviation sector, where he helped to realize the liberalization of the markets, and then from 1996 to 1999 for railway policy. At that time he was instrumental for the opening of the rail freight markets through the so-called ‘First Railway Package’.From 1999 until the end of 2004 he was as Director for Land Transport responsible for the EU railway and road transport policies. In January 2005 he took over the management of the “Trans-European Networks” program in energy and transport. In the past five years he was also in charge on the Commission side, of the GALILEO satellite naviga-tion program.

Person of the week

Our staffs in mash’al congratulate the occasion of Nime Shaaban, the birth anniversary of the last Imam

and one of the biggest Eid of muslims around the world