Heavy crude refining capacity in Arvandan Oil and Gas Company, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, has reached 165,000 barrels per day, up 18% compared to 10 months ago, managing director of the firm said.
"The boost in processing output capacity has helped raise the company’s monthly revenues by at least $700,000," Abdollah Ozari Ahvazi was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry's news portal.
The facility is now equipped with three trains of processing units, each of which can refine 55,000 barrels of crude per day, he added.
AOGC manages 13 oilfields, from which it expects to produce 1 million bpd of oil by 2025. These include South and North Azadegan, Yadavaran, Darkhovein, Sousangerd, Arvand, Jofeir, Band-e-Karkheh, Sohran, Omid, Moshtaq, Khorramshahr, Yaran and Sepehr oilfields.
“The development of joint Azadegan Oilfield in Khuzestan Province will be completed with an investment of $7 billion,” he added.
The integrated development plan of Azadegan Oilfield, shared between Iran and Iraq, will be carried out by public and private banks, economic holding companies and the National Development Fund of Iran, with the aim of increasing the field’s production to 570,000 barrels per day, he added.
The vast Azadegan field has been divided into North Azadegan and South Azadegan. The two fields had been developed separately, but a master plan is under consideration for the integrated development of the entire field.
South Azadegan is estimated to hold 25.34 billion barrels of oil in place, while North Azadegan is estimated to hold 5.6 billion barrels.
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 Karun oil block in Khuzestan.
West Karun, 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.
Accumulated Production
Recovery from the first well drilled in South Azadegan occurred in 2007. Accumulated oil production from the field reached 250 million barrels in March.
So far, 160 wells have been drilled and completed in this field with 36 more wells planned to be spudded until March 2023. A total of 11 drilling rigs are operating in South Azadegan, which would increase to 13 in the coming months.
North Azadegan first started oil supply in 2016. Accumulated output has since reached 150 million barrels. Of the total 58 wells drilled in the field, 51 are producing oil.
Arvandan controls 60% of the oil and gas fields shared with Iran's bordering countries. These fields have become the Oil Ministry's top priority recently, as Iran feels it has fallen behind its neighbors in producing from these fields due to lower investment in recent years.
Iran shares hydrocarbon reserves with Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan.
Of Arvandan's recoverable reserves, 8.68 billion barrels lie in the shared oilfields, while 2.89 billion barrels are in exclusive hydrocarbon reservoirs.
"The amount of recoverable oil Arvandan has is shared fields, in its 5,000-kilometer territory, which add to the company's significance," said Ozari.
Arvandan will hire new personnel to implement its expansion plans.
The company has 500 fulltime staff and 2,500 people under contract. It plans to double its personnel to 6,000 in the next 10 years.
However, only 1,000 will be government staff and the rest will be contractual from the private sector.
"The company will carry out its operations through contractors and our staff will mainly monitor and manage operations at high levels," he said.
