Iran Boosts Oil Output At Oilfields Shared With Iraq

Iran has raised oil production from the oilfields in its southwest it shares with Iraq to 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 70,000 bpd in the past seven years, Shafaq News quoted Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh as saying on Tuesday.

The oilfields in Karoun that Iran shares with Iraq include five major fields—North Azadegan, South Azadegan, North Yaran, South Yaran, and Yadavaran.

Iran plans to significantly boost production and exports from the West Karoun cluster of oilfields, estimated to contain at least 67 billion barrels of oil in place, Oilprice reported last month.

Iran officially launched in August the first phase of the oil-transfer chain of the West Karoun oilfields - with a daily delivery capacity of 460,000 bpd of heavy crude oil and 254,000 bpd of light crude oil to export terminals. After developing Phase 2 of the project, which is currently underway, Iran will have the capacity to transfer more than one million barrels of crude oil from the West Karoun oilfields cluster to export terminals.

Also in August, Iran signed a total of 13 oil contracts with 14 domestic firms, which will raise the Islamic Republic’s oil production capacity by 185,000 bpd. The 13 deals are worth a total of US$1.78 billion (1.527 billion euro) and were awarded by the Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) and the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) to 14 Iranian companies as contractors.

According to Reza Dehghan, Deputy Director for Development and Engineering Affairs at National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), the new contracts will enhance and maintain oil production in Iran, which is exempted from the ongoing OPEC+ production cut agreement because of the U.S. sanctions on its oil industry.

In July, Iran signed a US$1.3-billion deal with domestic companies to double the production capacity at the massive Azadegan oilfield, expecting the rise in production to boost its oil revenues by US$1 trillion, Iranian officials said at the signing ceremony. In the Iranian field, production capacity is expected to more than double in 30 months, to 320,000 bpd from 140,000 bpd currently, and from just 45,000 bpd back in 2013.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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