'After the submission of prices for phases 15-16, Pars Oil & Gas Company (POGC)will ask the same bidders for 17-18,' Gholamreza Manouchehri, managing director of the Oil Ministry subsidiary Petropars, told MEED on 20 July. 'It will ask the same bidders for the same scope of works. It wants to expedite the project because it has decided to finalise it by the end of this Iranian year.'

Technical negotiations on 15-16 have now been completed. Four groups are participating in the tender: Hyundai Engineering & Constructionand LG Engineering & Construction, both of South Korea, with the UK's Foster Wheeler Energyand the local Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries Company (Isoico); Chiyoda Corporationof Japan, with Daelim Engineering & Construction of South Korea and Industrial Development & Renovation Organisation (IDRO)and Petropars, both local. Paris-based Technipwith Oil Industries & Engineering Company (OIEC)and Saaf Offshore, both local; and Ghorb Khatem, the engineering wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, with Iran Marine Industries (Sadra).

The project will produce 50 million cubic metres a day (cm/d) of treated gas for domestic use, 1 million tonnes a year (t/y) of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for export, 80,000 barrels a day of condensates, also for export, and 1 million t/y of ethane for use in local petrochemical projects. Sulphur recovery on the phases will run to 800 tonnes a day for export, twice the level of previous South Pars projects.

South Pars phase 1, carried out by a team led by Petropars, came fully on stream in mid-July, a year behind schedule. Petropars is also responsible for phases 6-8, for which a team led by Japan's JGC Corporationis carrying out the onshore portion. The contractor pulled out in June of the Kharg island natural gas liquids (NGL) project, further delaying the project's late schedule. The company said it wanted to concentrate on phases 6-8 but could face difficulties bidding for future Oil Ministry projects. 'We understand that in the last weeks JGC has been more active on 6-8,' said Manouchehri. 'We appreciate the new mood, but withdrawing from Kharg was not the right action.'

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