Regular repair and maintenance of aging oil wells in southern oil-rich regions have increased crude production capacity by 85,000 barrels per day, the head of Repair and Renovation Unit at the National Iranian South Oil Company said.
“The state-run firm has carried out routine restorative and cleanup operations on wells over the last six months, the result of which was a significant rise in daily output,” Abbas Lorki was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
Giving a breakdown on the operations, he added that close to 1,420 liters of fluid, including different kinds of acids, nitrogen, diesel and cement, were used in the period to repair the wells scattered over 71,000 square kilometers.
NISOC, the largest subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, is presently producing an average of 1.5 million barrels per day of crude oil.
According to Lorki, repair of wells is of great importance in the oil and gas industry, as a malfunction in wells leads to a significant reduction in flow rate or to a full cessation of work.
The reason for the termination or reduction of production may be due to the failure of the ground or underground equipment, a change of reservoir conditions, the termination of gas supply or power supply, cessation of pumping and transport of the liquid on the surface and other factors.
The main thing in the repair of oil and gas wells is the quality of well casing and insulation of productive reservoirs, prevention and/or troubleshooting of underground part of the equipment and/or the wellbore, preventing gas emissions that can lead to even more clogging of the porous medium and consequently, the subsequent reduction of the reservoir productivity.
Doubling Production Capacity
According to Majid Arsham, NISOC's director for integrated planning, the firm is ready to double crude production capacity in the shortest possible time after the US sanctions are removed.
“The current daily output at 1.5 million barrels can reach 3 million bpd in less than a week,” he said.
The potential return of Iranian barrels into global oil markets - both from the volumes in floating storage and over the longer term – will affect futures prices.
NISOC is responsible for the development of 28 oilfields in the southern and southwestern oil-rich regions.
Despite decades of sanctions and limited investment, Iran remains one of the 10 largest oil producers in the world, ranking eighth after the US, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Canada, Iraq, China and the UAE.
Iran sits on the world’s fourth-largest proven oil reserves after Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Canada. It also accounts for 17% of global gas reserves and ranks second after Russia.
A higher output has been planned in view of the country’s oil reserves, as Iran holds about 1,200 billion barrels of oil equivalent underground, which include reserves of crude oil, natural gas and gas condensate.
Operations are underway to develop several oilfields to increase crude output capacity in the country.
The fields include South Azadegan and Nargesi oilfields in Khuzestan Province, Naft-Shahr Oilfield in Kermanshah Province and Azar Oilfield in Ilam Province.
According to the latest reports, Iran is preparing to raise its crude oil production capacity to over 4 million barrels per day by the end of the current Iranian year (March 2023) from the current 3.8 mbpd.
Local Companies
Cooperation with local knowledge-based companies is a priority.
“Transferring cutting-edge technology to the country is also important, as depriving ourselves of advanced knowhow will hinder progress,” the NISOC official said.
According to Arsham, domestic manufacturing factories are doing their best to produce much-needed pieces and parts in the oil and gas sector, but they need to redouble efforts to meet international standards.
One of the main measures that NISOC has been carrying out over the past few years is the collection of associated petroleum gases from oilfields. It collects more than 19 mcm of APG per day in cooperation with private firms, in line with the plan to zero gas flaring in the southern and southwestern regions.
Collecting APG from oil and gas fields is a priority of the Oil Ministry to help safeguard the environment, prevent the loss of national wealth and create jobs.
