Iran plans to start extracting oil from the world's largest gas field next year as part of the strategy to boost its crude oil production to at least 3 million barrels per day, Ali-Reza Zeighami, manager of the South Pars oil layers project said.
New wells were drilled and would become operational in the second half of the next Iranian year (starts in March 2016), IRNA reported on Monday.
In the first phase, 20,000 to 35,000 barrels of oil are forecast to be recovered from the oil layer of South Pars. The layer is estimated to have 7 billion barrels of oil.
Seven wells had so far been spudded in the oil layer of South Pars and new rigs were being transferred to provide an accurate estimate of its hydrocarbon reserves.
Meanwhile, the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC), which is a subsidiary of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and responsible for 83 percent of the country's output, plans to boost crude production to 3 million bpd during this Iranian year, which continues until March 2016.
Bijan Alipour, managing director of NISOC, told Shana his company planned to deploy 47 rigs for drilling development and work over wells.
Iran's current oil production is around 2.8 million barrels per day.
