Drilling operations at the second well, as part of the development program of Forouzan offshore oilfield in the Persian Gulf, is complete and ready to start oil production, managing director of Petropars Group, which is in charge of the field, said.
“With a length of 3,379 meters, the well will have a production capacity of 1,000 barrels of oil per day,” Shamseddin Mousavi was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
There are plans to drill an additional 24 wells in the field, which is expected to be completed by March 2024, he added.
Regarding the engineering, technical and executive services and supply of goods, he said Iranian capacities have been used in the development of the field.
Mousavi noted that domestic facilities and capabilities have made Iran needless of foreign contractors, and except for very limited items, the rest are provided by domestic companies.
Located 100 km southeast of Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, Forouzan Oilfield is shared with Marjan Oilfield in Saudi Arabia.
The field currently produces 40,000 barrels of crude oil per day and the development project seeks to raise that by 12,000 barrels.
Oil from Forouzan is transferred to onshore installations via a 20-inch offshore pipeline for storage at Kharg Oil Terminal.
The field was discovered in 1966 with an estimated in-place reserve of 2.3 billion barrels of crude.
More than 85% of the equipment and services used in the oilfield is provided by Iranian companies.
Iran has seen a surge in the production and export of oil and gas since 2021, as the country works to revive the 2015 nuclear deal that was abandoned by the US in 2018 who then announced an economic blockade of Iran. The tough US sanctions are still in place.
However, energy expansion activities have continued despite the restrictions. Authorities say higher production will meet growing domestic demand and also ensure a quick return to international markets when the US acrimony eventually ends.
Negotiations are underway between Tehran and six major powers to revive the nuclear deal and lift the US sanctions that have obstructed oil production since 2018.
Iran's oil exports, which had fallen sharply under international sanctions from 2012 to 2015, resumed their uptrend in 2016 after the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015. Iran's oil exports averaged 2.5 million barrels per day in 2017.
By the end of 2017 and before the US sanctions, Iran produced 4.7 million barrels of oil and gas condensate per day, of which 3.8 million were crude oil.
According to the latest reports, Iran presently produces about 2.6 million barrels per day of crude while exports is nearly 1 million bpd.
