A contract has been signed by Petropars Group and Dana Energy Company, based on which 10 new wells will be drilled in South Azadegan Oilfield in Khuzestan Province by Dana, the managing director of Petropars said.
“The contract, including services such as engineering, procurement and drilling, as well as the implementation of 10 wells will be executed within 16 months,” Hamidreza Masoudi was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana.
Of the total 10 wells, nine will be production wells and one to remove wastewater, he added.
Masoudi noted that as per the contract, it is predicted that about 40 km of drilling operations will be conducted.
When the wells become operational, they will produce over 10,000 barrels of oil per day, he added.
Last year, Petropars was commissioned by the National Iranian Oil Company to develop the giant South Azadegan Oilfield and raise its output to 320,000 barrels a day by 2023.
The field’s total production stood at 45,000 barrels in 2013, which has increased to 140,000 bpd now.
The project included drilling 35 wells, installing 50 electrical submersible pumps on production wells, constructing and upgrading ground facilities, designing enhanced oil recovery methods and laying 450 km of oil and gas pipelines.
Petropars was also tasked with constructing a crude oil central processing plant at the oilfield. The processing plant has a planned capacity of 320,000 bpd.
Work entails the construction of a central treatment and export plant, a firefighting facility, a permanent camp and warehouses. The treatment plant will process 6 million cubic meters of natural gas that will be used as feedstock in Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex in Mahshahr.
Founded in 1998, Petropars is committed to boosting the development of vast energy resources. It is one of the leading contractors of upstream oil and gas projects.
Located 100 km west of Ahvaz, 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.
Despite the US sanctions, Iran has continued development projects in oil, gas and petrochemical industries.
Former US president, Donald Trump, unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal, signed between Iran and six world powers, in May 2018.
The hostile US administration imposed sanctions on Iran, targeting its key economic sectors, namely oil, banking and shipping industries.
However, the current US administration is considering a near wholesale rollback of some of the most stringent Trump-era sanctions in a bid to get Iran to return to compliance with the landmark nuclear accord.
In its latest report, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries put Iranian crude output in March at 2.3 million barrels per day, indicating a 137,000-bpd increase compared to the previous month.
Based on OPEC data, Iran’s average crude output in the first quarter of 2021 was near 2.2 million barrels per day, about 197,000 bpd higher compared to the last quarter of 2020.
