The French company Total has announced it will go ahead with the development of the Iranian South Pars gas field phase 11 project (SP11) for summer 2017. SP11 is expected to have a production capacity of 1.8 bcf/d (nearly 51 mcm/d). The produced gas will be fed into Iran's gas network for domestic consumption.
In August 2016, Total and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed a Heads of Agreements (HoA) for the development of SP11, which will be operated by Total (50.1%) together with Petropars (19.9%), a 100% subsidiary of NIOC, and the Chinese state-held oil and gas company CNPC (30%). Total and its partners will work under the framework of the new Iranian Petroleum Contract (IPC) which differs from the previous IPC. It offers to the operator remuneration based on production instead of a percentage of the development costs and will last 20 years instead of 7-8 years.
The whole project is expected to cost US$5bn and Total will start the initial US$1bn investment when the US will extend the sanctions relief for Iran under the 2015 agreement. It will be developed in two phases and the first one is expected to cost US$2bn. It will consist of 30 wells and 2 wellhead platforms connected to existing onshore treatment facilities by 2 subsea pipelines.
The North Dome Field/South Pars gas field is the largest in the world and is shared between Iran and Qatar, about 80-km north-east of Qatar's mainland. Its development on the Iranian side is divided into about 30 phases, 21 of which are active now. Phases 1-10 are intended for domestic consumption and injection into Iranian oil fields, while gas from the other phases should be exported.