​The refinery of the South Pars gas field’s phases 17 and 18 came on stream after transferring sour gas from offshore platforms to onshore processing units.According to the public relations department of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO), concurrent with transferring sour gas from the South Pars gas field, the last stages of trial operation and commissioning of the processing units of the refinery of phases 17 and 18 of the South Pars gas field were implemented in cooperation with engineers and experts at Industrial Projects Management of Iran, which is a subsidiary of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran, and other Iranian contractors.Based on a timetable, it is predicted that gas sweetening process will be started over the next few days in the first processing unit of the refinery of phases 17 and 18 of the South Pars gas field and the produced gas will be injected to the national gas network.In this line, a press conference was held in the company with the participation of Eng. Fardad Daliri, deputy director of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran for the development of large energy and infrastructure projects, and Eng. Morteza Emami, managing director of Industrial Projects Management of Iran (IPMI). Fardad Daliri, deputy director of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran, said the development of phases 17 and 18 of the South Pars gas field has been fully implemented by domestic contractors. He added that the development of previous phases of the South Pars gas field had been implemented and commissioned by foreign companies. For the first time, all the activities of the development of phases 17 and 18 were implemented by a consortium comprising Iranian companies, he said.The deputy director of IDRO went on to say that the establishment of large domestic contracting companies was a great step and has been very fruitful for the country. He added that South Korea and Japan each have two or three large contractors and European companies are not allowed to do executive affairs. They do just engineering and procurement affairs.Capability of Iranian companies encouraged national officials to transfer projects to domestic contractors, he said, adding that contracts with Iranian companies are concluded under better conditions compared to foreign companies. Therefore, foreign companies will not be able to leave the projects under the excuse of sanctions, he noted.As a developmental organization, IDRO is tasked with using domestic resources and facilities, he said, adding that in this project it has been planned to use maximum domestically-manufactured equipment and goods as well as Iranian experienced human resources.To conclude his remarks, Daliri appreciated officials of the Oil Ministry, the Pars Oil and Gas Company, and the national Iranian Gas Company, who supported the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran and the Industrial Projects Management of Iran to implement the project.For his part, Eng. Emami, the managing director of the Industrial Projects Management of Iran and the manager of the project for developing phases 17 and 18 of the South Pars gas field, referred to activities which have been carried out in the two phases, saying that 7-10 billion cubic meters of earthmoving, 350,000-400,000 cubic meters of concrete pouring, 45,000 tons of equipment installation, 40,000 tons of pipelining, 4,500 kilometers of cabling, 350,000 diameter/inch underground pipelining, and 100 million person hour working have been carried out in this sector.He added that the first unit of the refinery, with a daily output of 12 million cubic meters, is currently operating. The second unit of the refinery will come on stream by mid-January. It will increase the refinery’s daily output to 25 million cubic meters. In February, the offshore platform will start gas production, and the gas sweetening capacity will increase to 37.5 million cubic meters per day, he stated.The managing director of the Industrial Projects Management of Iran went on to say that the fourth unit of the refinery of phases 17 and 18 will come on stream next year.For his part, Eng. Emami, appreciated the Oil Ministry and the Pars Oil and Gas Company for their financial, technical, and managerial supports to implement the project, saying that the employer has showed utmost cooperation and interaction during the execution of the project.It should be noted that the development of phases 17 and 18 of the South Pars gas field is aimed to produce 50 million cubic meters of natural gas, 80,000 barrels of gas condensates, and 400 tons of sulfur per day, as well as one million ton of ethane per year as feedstock for petrochemical units, and also one million tons of liquefied gas to be exported to international markets.