TEHRAN- Iran’s South Pars Phase 11 has reached a major milestone: after years of delays and the withdrawal of foreign partners such as France’s Total and China’s CNPC, the project has achieved its nominal production ceiling of 1 billion cubic feet per day at offshore position B, relying on domestic expertise.
The achievement is described as a leap in Persian Gulf gas production, a way to reduce energy imbalance, and a symbol of world-class Iranian engineering.
Phase 11 is strategically sensitive because it lies on the maritime border in the Persian Gulf.
The latest step was completion of technical operations on the final well at position B. Keyvan Tarighati, head of Phase 11 development, said drilling, completion and perforation of the 12th well are finished. After the well was lightened with nitrogen, test gas flow began and is monitored continuously. Following acidizing and pressure stabilization, the well will be connected to production at maximum capacity within days.
Tarighati called the entry of new wells a strategic step toward maximum extraction from the shared field, strengthening Iran’s position in regional energy diplomacy.
Hamidreza Saghafi, CEO of Petropars, said reaching 1 billion cubic feet per day at position B resulted from round-the-clock offshore drilling. With the 12th well added, gas extraction from platform B has risen to more than 28 million cubic meters per day. He described the production jump as concrete protection of national interests at the zero point of the Persian Gulf border and a way to control pressure decline in the shared reservoir. According to him, careful resource management allowed the team to overcome logistical complexity and bring the platform to full operation faster than initially forecast.
Comparative data show how rapid the development has been. In earlier periods, position B produced only about 400 million cubic feet per day, relying on the 12D jacket and a platform transferred from position 12C, with four wells in operation. During the past 17 months of intensive development, active wells tripled from four to twelve, and actual production is now near the record 1 billion cubic feet per day. More than 26,000 meters of specialized offshore drilling were completed in this period, bringing total drilling at the platform to about 50,000 meters. This added nearly 17 million cubic meters per day to the national gas supply, a figure expected to have a tangible effect on household and industrial consumption stability in the coming winter.
Development at position A has also advanced significantly. This platform will support the second part of gas extraction from Phase 11. At the start of the current period, it was in early construction: the offshore jacket was about 35 percent complete and the topside only about 4 percent. Today, a 4,000-ton jacket has been built, braced, transported and installed in its final Persian Gulf location after more than 700 meters of precise piling. The topside construction has reached about 50 percent despite difficult conditions.
Masoud Rezaei, an offshore structural engineering expert, called the rapid progress and the resolution of long-lead items an engineering feat under supply-chain restrictions. Plans call for the structure to be loaded out and installed at about 80 percent progress so the second part of Phase 11 can enter operation as soon as possible.
The record was achieved despite severe technical obstacles, international sanctions on equipment, security threats and tense maritime conditions. Project officials say that even during regional tensions, and at times when the contractor’s site for the position A topside was hit by projectiles, construction never stopped. Execution teams continued work while maintaining standards and safety principles. This resilience, they argue, shows that Iran’s oil and gas industry has reached a level of technical knowledge and durability that can withstand the strongest external pressures.
The future plan for position A is carefully set. After the topside is installed offshore, initial operation will begin with four to six wells. Gradually, as drilling rigs arrive, an average of one new well will be completed every four months. This phased drilling will continue for about three years until the platform’s nominal capacity is fully reached.
Petropars, which has carried out more than half of South Pars projects both onshore and offshore, has now turned Phase 11 from a symbol of years of uncertainty into a driver of sustainable national energy supply. Beyond production numbers, the project is presented as proof that Iranian specialists’ determination can overcome imposed limits, offering a model for other major national projects in the oil industry.
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