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Facilities to increase supply of crude oil from the southern oilfields to an export terminal in the Persian Gulf region are being expanded. said Director for Pipe-laying and Oil Transfer Operations at the National Iranian Oil Company. Sirous Aghajeri.
He said that a pumping station in the West Karun oil block. Khuzestan Province. is near completion and will boost oil pumping capacity from the block by 300.000 barrels per day to the port of Bandar Genaveh in Bushehr Province for export.
Pumping stations are deployed at long pipelines with large diameters to help raise the flow rate of crude oil and petroleum products.
West Karun is the name of an oil-rich region in Khuzestan that includes several giant oilfields. including Azadegan. Yaran and Yadavaran. with the first two divided into north and south projects.
The government of President Hassan Rouhani has accelerated the development of joint gas fields. It is also expanding infrastructure for crude transfer. storage and export in line with plans to raise outbound cargo in the long-term.
According to reports. Bandar Genaveh has the capacity to store 6 million barrels of oil. but plans are underway to increase the port`s crude storage capacity to 20 million barrels.
The pumping station is expected to start operations by March. the end of the current Iranian fiscal year.
The station is now ready to boost the flow of heavy crude and will be ready to handle light crude supplies within two months. Aghajeri said.
The project. which is being carried out by Iranian engineering and construction company RAMPCO Group. has received €30 million and 200 billion rials ($5 million) in funding separately. Aghajeri said that developing the pumping station is not part of an international tender that will be held for the South Azadegan Oilfield in the near future.
According Ali Kardor. the NIOC chief. the coveted South Azadegan field is expected to be tendered in the first quarter of this year.
Iran has given the green light to 29 foreign companies to bid for dozens of oil and gas projects. NIOC more international companies will be approved for bidding before the tender for South Azadegan.
Iran. the No. 3 producer of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. has raised its crude production and export since international sanctions against its economic and energy sectors were lifted a year ago.
Sanctions cut crude exports to slightly more than 1 million barrels per day from 2.5 million bpd in 2010. The combined export of crude oil and gas condensates. an ultra light type of crude. reached 2.8 million barrels a day in December. according to Oil Ministry data.
