POGC And SKS Sign $6Bn Golshan/Ferdows Upstream Deal
Iran’s Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) and Malaysia’s SKS Ventures signed a $6bn agreement on 26 December for development of the offshore Golshan and Ferdows fields. Iranian Minister of Petroleum Gholamhossein Nozari told state TV that the agreement covered the upstream development and gas sweetening sections of a combined project, with total value estimated at $16bn, that will include LNG exports. POGC’s parent company National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed a memorandum of understanding with SKS in early 2007 for a combined upstream/LNG project, based on a 25-year LNG sales agreement (MEES, 15 January 2007). POGC Managing Director Ali Vakili told state radio: “Engineering studies will start as of today. The first gas to be sweetened will reach the shore within 60 months and full upstream production will take about 66 months. In total, 2.5bn cfd of gas will be delivered and two LNG trains with [combined] capacity of 10mn tons/year of LNG will be built.” He added that 500mn cfd of gas would be sweetened and delivered to the national transmission grid. The IRNA news agency reported on 31 December that estimated gas-in-place was 42-56 tcf for Golshan and 9-13 tcf for Ferdows. SKS Ventures Managing Director Shahul Ismail was quoted as saying that the downstream contract was expected to be signed within the next six months.
Copyright MEES 2008.
