Efforts are underway to increase the production capacity of South Azadegan Oilfield in Khuzestan Province by 15,000 barrels per day by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20), managing director of the Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC) said.
“While the first phase of the development project is underway, studies on the second phase are also being conducted,” Abouzar Sharifi was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
“In recent months, PEDEC has completed the drilling of new wells by accelerating the activities carried out in the oilfield,” he added.
The whole development of the field is expected to be completed in 2023. Upon the project’s completion, the field’s crude oil production capacity will reach 320,000 bpd from the current 140,000 bpd.
Located 100 km west of Ahvaz near the Iraqi border, South Azadegan is estimated to hold 27 billion barrels of oil in place, of which 1.7 billion barrels are extractable. It is part of the West Karoun oil block in Khuzestan.
West Karoun, Iran's top priority for raising crude production to restore the market share it lost to international sanctions, includes Mansouri, Yaran and Yadavaran, as well as North and South Azadegan joint fields. The block holds an estimated 67 billion barrels of oil in place.
In July 2020, PEDEC awarded a $1.3 billion contract to Petropars Group to complete the development of the South Azadegan Oilfield.
Petropars was also assigned the project of constructing a crude oil central processing plant at the oilfield at an estimated cost of $300 million. The plant has a planned capacity of 320,000 bpd.
The project entailed the construction of a central treatment and export plant, a firefighting facility, a permanent camp and warehouses.
The plant will also process 6 million cubic meters of natural gas that will be used as feedstock in Bandar Imam Khomeini Petrochemical Plant in Ahvaz.
Developing Oilfields
Despite the US sanctions, Iran has continued development projects in oil, gas and petrochemical industries.
The previous US administration unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal, signed between Iran and six world powers, in May 2018. It reimposed sanctions on Iran, targeting its key economic sectors, namely oil, banking and shipping industries.
Based on the latest reports, Iran’s current crude output is over 2.5 million bpd now.
With the indirect talks going on between Iranian and American officials regarding the revival of the nuclear deal and removal of sanctions, Iran is expected to boost the capacity to 4 million bpd soon, returning to levels before the sanctions hit the country.
PEDEC was established in 1994 for supervising the engineering and development of projects by planning, engineering, constructing and implementing giant oil and gas projects at the National Iranian Oil Company.
As the development arm of NIOC, PEDEC studies and operates development projects to explore and extract crude oil, natural gas and other solid and liquid hydrocarbons (save for coal) to meet NIOC’s requirements, improve upstream technology and optimize local resources in the implementation of projects.
To implement a large number of onshore and offshore projects, PEDEC is working with many engineering and contracting companies both within and outside the country. The company provides a platform for the transfer of technology in oil- and gas-related projects and ushers in an era of technology self-sufficiency in Iran.
Petropars was founded in 1998 to contribute to the development of vast energy resources. It is one of the leading contractors of upstream oil and gas projects.
