In an interview with Shana, Gholam Abbas Hosseini stated that since the beginning of this Iranian calendar year 1403 (March 21, 2024) the complex has been able to play a critical role in the country’s economic growth by conducting significant maintenance, implementing innovative measures, collaborating with knowledge-based and domestic manufacturers, sending sweet gas to the national pipeline, supplying feedstock to petrochemicals located in South Pars region, and increasing the volume of exports, adding the flare reduction project is one of the most important operational projects this year in the South Pars Complex.

Hosseini mentioned that since establishing the South Pars Complex 26 years ago, 2,126 billion cubic meters of natural gas have been sweetened and injected into the national pipelines. He continued that the official production and sweetening of natural gas from the second processing plant of South Pars (phases 2 and 3) began in 2001. At that time, the received feedstock from the offshore platforms of the South Pars joint field was 50 million cubic meters per day, producing and sweetening 40 million cubic meters of natural gas, which has now increased to 613 million cubic meters per day across the thirteen refineries of the  Complex.

Regarding the amount of gas received from the South Pars platforms since the beginning of this year, he announced that over 130 billion cubic meters of gas have been received and entered the refineries of the South Pars Gas Complex. According to Hosseini, since the beginning of this year, over 113 billion cubic meters of gas have been sweetened and injected into the national pipeline as well.

He also referred to the production of other products from this complex since the beginning of this Iranian calendar year, stating that during this period, over 1.1 million tons of ethane, 139 million barrels of gas condensate, 1.9 million tons of propane, and 370 thousand tons of sulfur have been produced across the refineries of the South Pars Gas Complex.

Hosseini mentioned sending feedstock to the petrochemicals in the South Pars region and the Persian Gulf Star Refinery, noting that through this year, over 2.2 million tons of feedstock have been delivered to the local petrochemicals and over 100 million barrels of gas condensate to the Persian Gulf Star Refinery.

Concerning maintenance, he said that maintenance of all refineries in 2024 started on April 23 and successfully ended on November 7, adding the primary objective of the maintenance process is to cover all the operational and engineering requirements to ensure stable gas production during the cold season while emphasizing safety.

Hosseini highlighted that this year’s maintenance included over 22,000 types of fixed equipment, valves, electrical, and instrumentation tools across the South Pars refineries, aiming to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the equipment.

He also mentioned that with the implementation of short-term projects, the gas flare emissions from all twelve refineries combined would be reduced by about 1.2 billion cubic meters annually compared to 2021. He explained that these short-term flare gas emissions reduction projects made good progress by the end of 2023, and it is expected that by completing these projects by the end of this year, the flare gas emissions will drop from 8.7 million cubic meters per day to 5.3 million cubic meters while it is currently at 7.4 million cubic meters per day.

Hosseini stated that following directives from the President and the Minister of Petroleum, activities regarding the purchase, execution, and bidding for flare gas have commenced, and they hope to achieve favorable outcomes this year.

He acknowledged that upon completion of the flare gas selling projects, the emissions will be further reduced by about 900 million cubic meters annually, with projections suggesting flare gas burning could reach about 3 million cubic meters daily.

Hosseini also reminded that project progress reports are monitored in weekly meetings involving the CEO of the complex and the director of coordination and oversight over national gas production, with solutions proposed for challenges and bottlenecks.

Emphasizing the use of domestic capacity, Hosseini stated that the thirteen refineries of South Pars have achieved a 90% utilization rate of domestic production and equipment while supporting knowledge-based companies and Iranian youth, and have registered the highest volume of domestic equipment usage within the Ministry of Petroleum's subsidiaries.