​The refinery of phases 17 and 18 of the South Pars gas field 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 latest stage of trial operation and commissioning of processing units of the refinery of phases 17 and 18 of the South Pars gas field was implemented in cooperation with experts and engineers at the Industrial Projects Management of Iran, which is a subsidiary of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran, and in association with some other Iranian contractors.In this line, a press conference was held attended by Eng. Fardad Daliri, the deputy director of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran for large energy and infrastructure projects development, and Eng. Morteza Emami, the managing director of the Industrial Projects Management of Iran (IPMI). Fardad Daliri, the deputy director of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran for large energy and infrastructure projects development, said that the development of phases 17 and 18 of the South Pars gas field has been fully implemented by Iranian companies. He went on to say that the previous phases of the South Pars gas field had been developed and commissioned by foreign companies. For the first time, all the development process of phases 17 and 18 were accomplished by a consortium of Iranian companies, he noted.The deputy director of IDRO added that the formation of a large Iranian consortium was a very positive measure and had many benefits for the country. Japan and South Korea, each have two or three large contractors. Moreover, large European companies do not get involved in executive affairs. They just carry out engineering and procurement processes, he said.The high capability of Iranian companies has encouraged national officials to transfer projects to domestic contractors, he said, adding that Iranian companies conclude contracts with better conditions than foreign companies. Therefore, foreign companies cannot leave the projects under the pretext of sanctions, he stated.He added that as a developmental organization, IDRO is bound to use domestic resources and facilities. In this project, it has been planned to use the most possible equipment and domestically-manufactured goods, as well as skilled manpower, he said.Daliri thanked officials of the Oil Ministry, the Pars Oil and Gas Company, and the National Iranian Gas Company and appreciated them for supporting the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran and the Industrial Projects Management of Iran. Eng. Emami, the managing director of the Industrial Projects Management of Iran, who is the manager of the project for developing phases 17 and 18 of the South Pars gas field, elaborated on activities which have been carried out in the two phases, saying that the onshore development of the phases, including 7 to 10 billion cubic meters of earth moving, 350 to 400 thousand cubic meters of concrete pouring, installing 45 thousand tons of equipment, laying 40 thousand tons of pipelines, laying 4500 kilometers of cables, laying 350 thousand diameter/inch of pipelines underground, and conducting 100 million person hour of working, have been implemented.He also said that the first unit of the refinery, with 12 million cubic meters of capacity per day, is currently operational. Once the second unit of the refinery comes on stream, the refinery’s gas sweetening capacity will be increased to 25 million cubic meters per day, he said, adding that transferring gas from the offshore platform will boost the gas sweetening capacity to 37.5 million cubic meters per day.The managing director of the Industrial Projects Management of Iran went n to say that the fourth unit of the refinery of phases 17 and 18 will come on stream in the next year.Eng. Emami thanked the Oil Ministry and the Pars Oil and Gas Company for their technical, financial, and executive assistance to implement the project. He said that the employer proved its ultimate cooperation and interaction during the project.It should be noted that phases 17 and 18 of the South Pars are projected to produce 50 million cubic meters of natural gas, 80 thousand barrels of gas condensates, and 400 tons of sulfur per day, as well as one million ton of ethane as feedstock for petrochemical units, and over one million ton of liquefied natural gas per year to be exported to the international market.