Farokh Alikhani made the remarks Monday at a ceremony marking the inauguration of the Tous gas field development project and the Dehloran compression station, attended by President Masoud Pezeshkian and Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad.

Alikhani said there are eight oil fields in western Iran, underscoring the strategic importance of the Dehloran compression station among existing facilities and oil fields in the region.

He said the associated gas collected from these fields will be transferred to the NGL 3100 plant, where it will be used as feedstock and converted into valuable products, including natural gas liquids and light gas. The light gas will be injected into the national grid to help supply and stabilize residential, industrial and power generation demand.

Alikhani added that NGL 3100 began operations in August with a feedstock supply of 80 million cubic feet per day.

Projects Ahead of Schedule

Alikhani said the National Iranian Oil Co. has a phased plan to fully collect associated gas in the region. With the Dehloran compression station coming online, gas collection capacity at this stage will rise from 80 million to 128 million cubic feet per day.

He said feedstock supply to NGL 3100 will reach 160 million cubic feet per day before the end of the current year, adding that the small remaining volume of associated gas will be collected and used as feedstock before next summer.

Alikhani said the company’s next focus will be on collecting associated and flare gas in southern Iran and the Persian Gulf.

He noted that the plan called for collecting 132 million cubic feet of gas in the region by year’s end, but round-the-clock efforts by oil industry workers have put the project one to one and a half months ahead of schedule. As a result, 160 million cubic feet of gas will be collected by the end of the year. He added that development of the Tous gas field is also running about two months ahead of schedule.