Austrian Firm Assisting IDRO in Oilfield Studies

Austria's HOT Engineering Company signed a contract with the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran to provide much-needed consultancy services, technical support and a master development plan to study the expansion of Susangerd Oilfield in Khuzestan.

The deal was signed in Tehran this week in the presence of IDRO's Chairman Mansour Moazzemi, the company's official news portal reported.

Pointing to the long history of IDRO's presence in Iran's oil and gas industry, Moazzemi noted that the two companies will cooperate for six months to conduct extensive surveys on the field.

Susangerd Oilfield, with an estimated 5 billion barrels of in-place oil and 500 million barrels of recoverable reserves, is located 45 kilometers west of the city of Ahvaz in Khuzestan. The field's daily output stands at 30,000 barrels, but the adoption of state-of-the-art oil recovery methods is expected to boost extraction.

HOT is a reservoir exploration and production consultancy and knowledge transfer company with headquarters in Austria, branch offices in Germany, the UAE and Libya.

The enterprise is a provider of advanced and integrated geological, geophysical, petrophysical, reservoir and production engineering technology.

Referring to HOT's expertise in enhanced oil recovery methods, Moazzemi noted that as soon as IDRO's survey on the oilfield is completed, the Austrian company will be provided with the information to decided on the most suitable method to boost the field's extraction rate.

According to the official, boosting oil and gas production capacity is of great importance and the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, signed between Iran and the world powers in 2015 has paved the way for the country to sign its oil deals under the new Iran Petroleum Contract.

"In line with policies to develop exploration and production projects under IPC, IDRO has signed preliminary agreements with foreign and domestic firms, and serious talks are underway to finalize them in the near future," the official noted without elaboration.

"Obtaining the National Iranian Oil Company's approval for partnership with foreign contractors in its new oil and gas projects, IDRO equipped itself with cutting-edge hardware and software to play an active role in studying oilfields," he added, noting that hiring Austrian engineering and management consultants was via an international tender.

  Growing Activities

State-owned IDRO has expanded its foray across the board.

According to IDRO's website, a consortium of Chinese and Hong Kong companies has recently signed an agreement with the firm for a joint venture to produce solar photovoltaic panels in Iran.

"The preliminary deal with China's Sunshine Solar Technology and Konda Energy of Hong Kong calls for establishing an automated production line for solar panels," Fardad Daliri, deputy for Advanced Industries Development at IDRO, said.

Reportedly, the project is expected to cost around $215 million.

According to government reports in October, foreign investors have proposed over $4 billion worth of renewable power projects since last year's lifting of sanctions.

IDRO, which operates in commercial, mining, agriculture, railroad and aviation sectors, has been expanding its foray into the energy sector. Germany's SCHMID Group signed a deal with IDRO last year to "establish a fully integrated photovoltaic manufacturing plant" in Iran that would incorporate the "entire photovoltaic value chain", reads a statement on SCHMID's website.

Russian gas giant Gazprom also signed an initial agreement with IDRO last month to cooperate in unspecified oil, gas and energy projects.