Khazar Exploration and Production Company (KEPCO) and PetroIran Development Company signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday to explore and develop hydrocarbon resources in the Caspian Sea.
According to the MoU, the exploration and development of resources will commence soon with the priority for Sardar-e-Jangal field, ISNA reported.
In 2011, Iran announced that it has discovered a substantial oil deposit, called Sardar-e-Jangal field, which reportedly contains about 500 million barrels of recoverable oil and 500 million cubic meters of recoverable natural gas. It is located 188 km north of Roudsar in Gilan Province.
Experts believe it could become Iran's first major oil/gas field development project in the Caspian Sea, as the country has already made progress in studying the field's geological structures and reserves.
In 2012, another field, called Sardar Melli, was discovered in the same region.
The Caspian region is one of the oldest oil-producing areas in the world and an increasingly important source of global energy production. It holds an estimated 48 billion barrels of oil and more than 8 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in proven and probable reserves.
Seismic surveys carried out by KEPCO, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, have shown the likely presence of a massive hydrocarbon formation in Gorgan Plain to the southeast of Caspian Sea.
KEPCO has drilled 20 exploratory wells in the region near the border with Turkmenistan in Golestan Province.
From the data’s evaluation, experts are hopeful about discovering a huge oil and gas field in the region.
Studies are underway but initial findings indicate that the gas field holds at least 3.3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, of which close to 68 billion cubic meters can be extracted annually. The field is also estimated to contain 2 billion barrels of crude oil in place.
KEPCO is also conducting studies on Roudsar Oilfield on the northern side of the Caspian Sea. The field is projected to have 30 bcm of gas and 500 million barrels of crude in place.
Founded in January 1998, KEPCO is active in the field of exploration, development and production of oil and gas in Caspian Sea and in the three littoral provinces of Mazandaran, Golestan and Gilan.
It supervises all the contracts signed by local and international companies regarding exploration and development of hydrocarbon reserves in the area, s well as its environmental ramifications.
An oil and gas company, PetroIran is a subsidiary of NIOC. Established in 1997, it is responsible for developing upstream oil projects.
The company develops the South Pars, Azadegan, Forouzan, Salman, Nosrat, Farzam and Arash fields.
Caspian Region
The Caspian region has long attracted the attention of the international community due to its rich hydrocarbon resources as well as its strategic location at the crossroads of Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
These resources can also be utilized for the construction of trans-Caspian energy pipelines planned to deliver the region's hydrocarbon reserves to Europe.
The Caspian Sea littoral states are fully aware of the enormous potential of hydrocarbon reserves, because of which Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have allocated large budgets to develop their oil and gas fields, including Shah Deniz Gas Field in the southern flank of the Caspian Sea.
The sea, surrounded by Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran, is one of the oldest oil-producing areas in the world and an increasingly important source of global energy production. It has significant oil and natural gas reserves from both offshore deposits in the sea and onshore fields in the region.
However, up until recently, officials in Iran were indifferent and averse to exploration and expansion of oilfields in the northern regions due to the abundance of gas resources in southern Iran.
Iran's energy map shows investments in oil and gas fields have been mostly concentrated in southern regions, where it shares the giant South Pars Gas Field with Qatar in the Persian Gulf and several oilfields with Iraq.
