High and rising production costs in joint offshore oilfields notwithstanding, their development tops National Iranian Oil Company's priority, the company's managing director said on Tuesday.
Ali Kardor clearly stressed that procrastination in developing the joint offshore fields is definitely against national economic interest, IRNA reported.
"Enhancing efficiency of the fields also is on the agenda. So long as cutting-edge production techniques are not used, not only will the costs keep soaring, profit margins will also become smaller," Kardor said.
Referring to the hardships of extracting oil from the seabed compared to the onshore fields, he said except for the oil industry staff, few if any are fully aware of such formidable challenges.
According to the senior official, Iran's oil and gas sector requires $100 billion in investment during the sixth five-year economic development plan (2016-21), which necessitates attracting foreign investment, part of which will be allocated to renovation in the energy sector planned to be carried out by the Iranian Offshore Oil Company.
Underscoring IOOC potential to boost crude production of operational fields, Kardor expressed the hope that injecting much-needed liquidity to the company can help it replace old and obsolete equipment and facilities.
According to Saeed Hafezi, IOOC managing director, the implementation of enhanced oil recovery methods in joint oilfields has been on the IOOC agenda for a long time.
"International companies have started technical negotiations with IOOC after the implementation of Iran's nuclear accord with the world powers in January," he said.
“The surge in production can translate into a major achievement as it means the company has succeeded in fulfilling almost all its strategic economic plans,” he noted.
Asked about Iran’s in-place crude oil reserves in the Persian Gulf, Hafezi said they have reached 100 billion barrels according to present estimates and data puts recoverable oil reserves at 16 billion barrels in the Persian Gulf.
IOOC is one of the world's largest offshore oil production companies, with over a half a century of experience. The company handles one-third of Iran's crude oil exports.
Iran has 26 oil and gas fields shared with neighboring countries, including onshore fields to its west, jointly owned with Iraq, some of which are Azadegan (Majnoon), Azer (Badra), Yadavaran (Sinbad), Naft Shahr (Naftk hana), Dehloran (Abu Ghurab) and West Paydar (Fakka), Arvand (South Abu Ghurab), and Yaran.
