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Plan to Raise Output From Joint Oilfields

Plan to Raise Output From Joint Oilfields
Plan to Raise Output From Joint Oilfields

The groundwork is being laid to ramp up crude production from joint fields with Saudi Persian Gulf neighbors, managing director of Pars Special Economic Energy Zone said.

"The National Iranian Oil Company is striving to attract foreign and domestic investment to develop Pars 3 (energy zone) in Bushehr Province," Mehdi Yousefi was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.

The project is being developed in an estimated 16,000 hectares of lands in Bushehr to boost Iran's oil production capacity from joint fields with Arab neighbors.

Similar to the PSEEZ, the zone will offer incentives–such as tax exemption and favorable import-export regulations—to companies investing in crude production infrastructure in the zone. Yousefi said development of several joint fields, including Farzad A, B and Esfandiar, is a priority in implementing the first phase of Pars 3, adding that investors are also welcome to fund drilling and refining infrastructure for less-developed fields such as Golshan, Ferdowsi and Kouh-e Mond.

Iran aims to close in on its Persian Gulf neighbors in terms of extraction from joint oil and gas fields.  It has 26 joint oil and gas fields with neighboring countries, but a lack of modern technology and budget has hampered development of fields, allowing neighbors to draw the lion's share of underground reserves.

Two of NIOC's most recent oil discoveries, Yadavaran and Azadegan fields with combined reserves exceeding 50 billion barrels of crude, nearly one-third of Iran's total reserves and more than Libya's total oil reserves, are bordering Iraq.

According to oil officials, the Persian Gulf country needs $50 billion to carry out its development projects in shared oil and gas fields. Following the July 14 accord between Iran and six world powers on Tehran's nuclear program, the Islamic Republic is preparing to raise crude exports to more than 4 million barrels a day.  The sanctions have halved Iran's oil exports to around 1.1 million bpd from a pre-2012 level of 2.5 million bpd. But Iran has the capacity to raise crude exports by 500,000 bpd within a week after the removal of sanctions, according to government officials.

An Oil Ministry official has declared that the Islamic Republic will reach the 500,000-bpd milestone by late November or early December even before most western sanctions are lifted.

Financialtribune.com