Confirmation of liquefied gas loss according to South Pars documents / reduction of 500,000 tons of LPG exports in 1999

According to the economic correspondent of Fars News Agency, the study of the situation of compressed liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the country shows that determining the task of consuming this hydrocarbon is one of the priorities of the Ministry of Oil of the 13th government.

According to documents Last year, out of 6.7 million tons of liquefied natural gas produced in the South Pars complex, more than 3 million tons of LPG were injected and wasted in the natural gas pipeline due to export restrictions imposed by the National Iranian Gas Company. As a result, it is necessary to determine new uses for LPG in the country.

Of course, this amount of LPG burning is not only related to last year, but since 1997, at least 3 million tons of LPG have been wasted every year in pipelines and flares (burners). Some documents LPG losses are estimated at up to 5.5 million tons per year.

* LPG exports in 1999 were at least 500,000 tons less than in 1998

Now, the new financial documents of the South Pars Complex Company also confirm the LPG loss figures in different years. According to Table 1, the nominal capacity of liquefied natural gas production in the South Pars complex is estimated at 7.6 million tons per year, of which the actual production of LPG in 1999 was about 3.3 million tons, which is about 500 thousand tons less than in 1998. Is.

Table 1- South Pars Complex Financial Statement Report

Assuming that all LPG produced is exported from South Pars, it can be concluded that LPG exports in 1999 were at least 500,000 tons less than in 1998. In other words, LPG export restrictions are increasing year by year due to market conditions and LPG demand, as well as US sanctions.

The table below shows the nominal capacity and LPG production in each of the South Pars refineries in 1999 separately.

As can be seen, there is a huge difference between the production capacity (nominal capacity) of the country’s LPG and its operational level, and a deviation of more than 50% has been recorded in this area, which is not due to estimation error in determining the nominal capacity, but According to other published documents, it means a reduction in the obligation to produce and separate LPG due to export restrictions.

* Reaffirmation of Ministry of Oil documents to burn LPG in pipelines

In the explanatory notes section of the financial statement of the South Pars Complex Company, the reduction of LPG production due to export restrictions is also mentioned.

According to the approved budget (Table 2), the production of propane and butane in 1999 is estimated at 2.48 and 1.55 million tons, of which the total (LPG) is about 4.03 million tons, but the realization of LPG production was equal to 3.64 million tons per year. Is 400 thousand tons less than the approved budget.

Table 2

This deviation from the approved plan, which was mainly due to the reduction of propane production, is explained in the financial statement of South Pars Complex as follows: A significant part of this deviation from the budget was due to problems caused by propane exports, which filled the tanks. And the injection of this valuable product into the national gas line.

Thus, once again, according to the documents of the Ministry of Oil, LPG burning in the national gas pipelines has been confirmed, which is due to the export restrictions caused by the sanctions.

One of the interesting points about the approved budget is that in 1997, the amount of LPG production was estimated at 5.8 million tons, but in the 99th budget of this company, this amount has been reduced to about 4 million tons.

It is not yet clear what is the reason for the setback in estimating LPG production from the South Pars complex? Perhaps one of the reasons is that the relevant authorities are aware of the LPG export restrictions and do not need to separate and produce LPG and then line it up.
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