Drilling operations of 20 wells in South Azadegan Oilfield will be put out to tender in the near future, South Azadegan Oilfield Development Project's managing director said on Thursday.
“National Iranian Drilling Company won the previous tender that involved the drilling of 20 wells in the field, because of which it cannot be invited for the new tender,” Mahmoud Marashi , who also is a deputy oil minister, was also quoted as saying by Shana.
Referring to the first tender for which eight enterprises had been invited, Marashi added that following technical and financial assessments, NIDC was considered the most qualified to embark on the venture.
According to the official, NIDC will develop the initiative in two years with the help of six drilling rigs.
On holding a second tender to drill 20 more wells in the same field, Marashi noted that NIDC will be excluded from the list, although other companies invited for the first tender are allowed to participate in the new tender.
"The drilling project will be implemented in the form of a turnkey contract, whereby NIDC is bound to design, procure and install all equipment and provide engineering services," Mohammad Reza Takaidi, acting director of NIDC, said.
"The company has already started drilling 40 wells in South Azadegan Oilfield that has registered a progress rate of 85% and plans have been made to complete the initiative in October."
The official added that the new project will be operated simultaneously with old ones that are about to be completed.
Takaidi added that NIDC's other operations include drillings in Phase 14 of South Pars Gas Field, Azadegan and South Yaran oilfields in Khuzestan Province as well as Azar in Ilam Province, which have totally registered a progress rate of 85%.
Turnkey Contracts
Stressing that these projects are being carried out on turnkey basis, the official said based on a contract between NIDC and Arvandan Oil and Gas Company, nine repair wells and three developmental wells in Darkhovein and Sohrab oilfields are to be drilled, for which NIDC's Fath-54 drilling rig is being used in the field, in addition to Fath-48 rig.
"Drilling operations on 13 onshore wells of Kish Gas Field have progressed by 70%," he added, noting that NIDC has already drilled an exploratory well at a depth of 2,900 km in Soufikom region in Aq-Qala County in Golestan Province, commissioned by Khazar Exploration and Production Company.
NIDC is concentrating on South Pars, which is pivotal to the government of President Hassan Rouhani’s economic plans. The company is working to deploy two offshore platforms of Phase 14 in less than a year from now.
Phase 14 is not among the high-priority phases of South Pars. According to Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, all South Pars phases are expected to become operational by August 2017, except Phase 14.
South Pars is the world’s largest gas field shared by Iran and Qatar, covering an area of 3,700 square kilometers of Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. It adjoins Qatar’s North Field that measures 6,000 square kilometers.
South Azadegan Oilfield is located 80 km west of Ahvaz in Khuzestan Province along the Iran-Iraq border and shared by the two states.
