Production from Sohrab Oilfield near the Iran-Iraq border in the southern Khuzestan Province will start in the near future, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company said.
“The Sohrab joint field in the West Karun block will soon become operational,” the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana quoted Mohsen Khojastehmehr as saying.
Iran shares the Sohrab Oilfield with Iraq. The field is estimated to hold 2 billion barrels of oil in place, 150 million barrels of which are recoverable.
NIOC concluded an agreement with the Tehran-based Dana Energy Company last year to develop the field.
The $850 million contract is aimed at extracting 150 million barrels of crude from the field over the next 20 years. The field’s output is expected to reach 30,000 barrels per day by 2025.
The deal is in line with government plans to boost oil output from joint hydrocarbon deposits. Iran owns 145 oil and gas fields, of which 26 are shared with neighbors, including Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan.
The project includes drilling 20 wells, installing 14 electrical submersible pumps on production wells, constructing and upgrading ground facilities, implementing enhanced oil recovery methods and laying oil and gas pipelines.
It also entails the construction of a central treatment and export plant, a fire-fighting facility, a permanent camp and warehouses.
The oilfield was supposed to be developed by Wintershall, Germany's largest oil and gas producer, in 2018 but it terminated the contract after the US administration imposed sanctions on Iran in the same year.
The previous US administration unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal, signed between Iran and six world powers, in 2018. It reimposed sanctions on Iran, targeting its key economic sectors, namely oil, banking and shipping industries.
Sohrab Oilfield is located 115 kilometers northwest of the city of Ahvaz in Hoor al-Azim Wetland.
Dana Energy is a private oil and gas company active in exploration and production, upstream services and energy trading. It was among the first group of domestic companies certified in 2017 for cooperation in oil and gas projects alongside foreign contractors.
Developing Joint Fields
The development of joint fields is on the agenda of the Oil Ministry and NIOC.
Earlier this year, NIOC signed a contract worth $7 billion with several domestic companies to develop the joint Azadegan Oilfield in Khuzestan.
The integrated development project 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.
The vast Azadegan field has been divided into North Azadegan and South Azadegan. The two fields had been developed separately, but a master plan has been studied 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.
