Crude oil production in Sivand and Esfand offshore oilfields off the Persian Gulf has increased by 20% or 16,000 barrels per day, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company said.
“Two domestic firms namely the Iranian Offshore Oil Company (as the project employer) and PetroIran Development Company (as the contractor) signed an agreement five years ago to enhance oil production in the two oilfields near Sirri Island,” Oil Ministry’s news service quoted Mohsen Khojastemehr as saying.
The oilfields production capacity has reached 111,000 barrels per day, he added, noting that the $120 million engineering, procurement and drilling contract was signed in 2018 and the plan was completed in 2023.
The operations entailed drilling, repairing and completion of 12 wells in the two fields, in addition to drilling four new wells, re-drilling six wells and repairing three others.
“All the work was carried out by domestic engineers and workers and 85% of the much-needed equipment was supplied by local manufacturers.”
Both companies are subsidiaries of NIOC, and the contract was one of the 34 NIOC’s plans to increase oil production.
The deal was in line with the declared government plan of action to boost oil output from offshore deposits.
Iran so far owns 145 hydrocarbon fields of which 26 are shared with neighbors, namely Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan.
Shared Fields
In recent times the government has placed higher priority on shared fields.
Iran currently produces almost 3 million bpd of crude oil.
A part of the southern province of Hormuzgan, Sirri Island is situated 76km from Bandar-e Lengeh and 50km west of the strategic island of Abu Musa.
With over a half century of experience, the IOOC operates 15 oilfields in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman and accounts for one third of the total crude export. It has undertaken several major oil and gas development projects on the island including a NGL gas factory.
Established in 1997, PEDCO deals with management and implementation of upstream oil and gas projects.
Esfand Oilfield has 29 production and injection wells and currently produces 60,000 bpd.
Sivand Field with 18 wells and Dena Field with 24 wells produce 35,000 barrels of oil per day altogether.
The first well of Nasr 5 satellite platform in Sivand Oilfield became operational in 2021 to help increase oil production in the field.
“With the activities of PetroIran Development Company to boost oil production in Esfand and Sivand fields, as well as the drilling and successful completion of three wells, the first production well of Nasr 5 platform was launched two years ago, which increased the field’s production capacity by 2,000 barrels per day.”
Referring to the unique conditions of Nasr 5 platform, he said, “Due to the unconventional dimensions of the platform and the instability of the seabed at its location as well as the limitations caused by power cables and entry and exit lines to the platform, using conventional drilling rigs in the Persian Gulf on this platform was impossible and as a result, drilling operations did not happen in the past decades.”
However, considering the concerns of Iranian Offshore Oil Company as the project employer, DCI (a subsidiary of PetroIran Development Company) conducted studies to investigate the drilling prospects. Eventually, an appropriate drilling rig was selected for the project and the drilling operation for the first well of Nasr 5 platform was successfully completed.
