Ramping up extraction from joint oil and gas fields is a top priority of the Oil Ministry, an official at the Research Institute of Petroleum Industry said on the sidelines of the Second National Convention on Energy Law on Tuesday.
Mohammad-Ali Emadi said the objective is in line with laws ratified by the Parliament, the policies of President Hassan Rouhani's administration and the "Resistance Economy", a set of economic principles proposed by the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei to counter the sanctions, promote domestic growth and reduce consumption, Moj News Agency reported.
Referring to the convention, he said, "It is an opportunity to reach a common understanding on a collective issue: the loss of hydrocarbon resources from joint fields."
Emadi stressed that such an understanding cannot be achieved without considering the legal aspects of extraction from joint fields and without reaching an agreement with the rivals in a "cordial and win-win atmosphere to cut costs, ramp up profit and generate wealth".
The two-day convention, an assembly of experts and senior academic figures in the field of energy, was held to address the drawbacks in contracts or legal proceedings related to the energy sector.
"Fifty percent of the issue are technical and legal," Emadi said, attributing the rest to the country's policies related to extraction from joint hydrocarbon resources.
Production at Western Fields
In related news, director of the West Oil and Gas Production Company announced that Iran's crude extraction from shared fields with Iraq has increased.
Saeed Nasseripour said extraction from a well at Cheshmeh Khosh Oilfield, 80 kilometers east of Dehloran County in Ilam Province is now underway.
He said the new oil extraction unit will "significantly increase" crude production from joint fields with Iraq, without giving figures. Iran has 145 hydrocarbon fields, 23 of which are shared with neighbors, including Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan.
Dehloran, West Payedar, Naft Shahr, Azadegan, Yadavaran and Azar are fields shared by Iran and Iraq.
According to a Majlis Research Center report in 2013, Iran produced around 130,000 barrels of oil from joint fields with Iraq, while the western Arab neighbor produced 295,000 barrels.
The country's total in-place oil reserves have been estimated at more than 560 billion barrels, with about 140 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Last month, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said the National Iranian Oil Company requires $50 billion in funds to develop shared oil and gas fields and keep up with rival states.
A lack of modern technology and budget has hampered the development of joint fields, allowing neighbors to draw the lion's share of underground reserves.
For instance, Iran is lagging behind Qatar in terms of extraction from the South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf, with the tiny Arab country reportedly drawing 1.6 times faster from the joint field.
