The National Iranian Oil Company has discovered hydrocarbon reserves in the southwest with the help of aeromagnetic surveys (AMS) conducted by domestic knowledge-based firms, the head of NIOC’s Exploration Department said.
“Early aeromagnetic studies show that the new reserves hold close to 16 billion barrels of oil in the Zagros area of western Iran,” Mehdi Fakour was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
“Instead of seismic discovery methods, NIOC employs magnetic methods that are faster and more precise,” he said, adding that as they are responsive to lateral variations in rock properties and gravity, magnetic methods are best suited for detecting steep discontinuities such as faults.
An aeromagnetic survey is an airborne geophysical survey performed using a magnetometer aboard or towed behind an aircraft. A magnetometer is an instrument used to measure the magnetic field. The applications of AMS in engineering geology include near-surface geological mapping, structural geology mapping and three-dimensional geological subsurface model construction.
In an aeromagnetic survey, an airplane, flying at a low altitude with a magnetic sensor, flies back and forth in a grid-like pattern over an area, recording disturbances in the magnetic field.
According to Fakour, plans are underway to study 175,000 km of Iran’s area with aeromagnetic methods.
“Contracts worth $400 million were signed with local and foreign companies to implement geological survey nationwide last year and new agreements worth $600 million will be concluded in the near future,” he said.
Secure Energy Supply
Fakour said the development of oil and gas fields will secure energy supply in the future.
Oil experts believe that the economy will struggle if the oil industry, the engine of economic growth, does not get the long-awaited impetus after years of underinvestment.
“Reliance on geophysical and seismic data can help accelerate the discovery of small- and medium-sized fields,” he said.
NIOC’s Exploration Department is undertaking nine seismic and geophysical initiatives across the country simultaneously and as soon as they yield positive results, drilling operations will follow.
“Geophysical data, used to provide information on the physical properties of the Earth's surface and subsurface, play a key role in locating hydrocarbons, minerals and other natural resources,” he said.
In the past 40 years, 73 oil and gas fields have been discovered in Iran and exploration conducted at hydrocarbon fields shows Iran’s recoverable gas reserves have risen by 283 billion.
“They include 36 oilfields and 37 gas fields, 26 of them are joint fields,” Fakour said.
Iran (34 trillion cubic meters) and Russia (32.6 tcm) hold the largest proven gas reserves in the world.
New Challenges
In addition to lack of investment, the oil and gas industry is facing new challenges, one of which is its high consumption of water and energy resources, which subject it to increasingly stringent environmental standards.
This constrains them to rethink extraction, production and distribution methods to obtain or maintain their operating license.
They also have to provide guarantees and ensure transparency in the environmental discharge of their activities.
According to the official, a total of 19 oil and gas fields, including 48 reservoirs, were discovered in the past eight years.
“As of 2014, 10 gas fields were discovered with total in-place reserves of 2 tcm, as well as nine oilfields containing 60 billion barrels of in-place oil,” he added.
Elaborating on some of the provincial discoveries, the official said the gas fields of Pazan in Fars Province, Khar-Tang in Bushehr Province and Charak in Hormozgan Province, as well as Yadman and Sepehr oilfields in Khuzestan Province, are among major deposits discovered in the period.
The official noted that in-place gas reserves in Khar-Tang and Charak are estimated to be 453 billion cubic meters and 481 bcm, respectively.
On the geographical location of one of the new oilfields, he said Yademan is located close to the Iraqi border in Khuzestan, but is not shared with the western Arab neighbor.
With an estimated 157 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, Iran has the world’s fourth–largest oil reserves and the second-largest gas reserves.
