Shana � Phase 21 of the supergiant South Pars Gas Field will become operational by late December once the sea pipeline of the project is laid for delivering sour gas from the phase to onshore refining facilities.

Speaking to Shana, operator of phases 20 and 21 of the gas field Alireza Ebadi said the platform of phase 21 will start gas production by 28.5 mcm/d.
He said the second gas sweetening train of the onshore refinery of the two phases is operational and ready to receive gas from the phase.

Ebadi said sour gas from the phase will be pumped to the refinery by the end of the current week but the pipeline is undergoing its final tests and will be fully operational no sooner than December 20.
He said the first and second gas sweetening trains of the refinery have a capacity to process 14 mcm/d of gas.

The offshore platform of phase 20 is being installed and will come online in the near future, he said, adding the structure is being prepared for startup and will most likely come on-stream in February 2017.
Phases 20 and 21 of South Pars gas filed are being developed for production of 50mcm /d of processed natural gas for domestic consumption, a million tons a year of ethane for use by petrochemical plants, 1.05 million tons a year of high-quality liquefied gas for exports and 75,000 barrels a day of condensate.

South Pars, divided into 29 development phases, holds 40 tcm of natural gas, or 21% of world�s total gas reserves, and 50 billion barrels of condensate.
South Pars covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran�s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers are situated in Qatar�s territorial waters.

The gas field is estimated to contain a significant amount of natural gas, accounting for about eight percent of the world�s reserves, and approximately 18 billion barrels of condensate.