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Norway Company Proposes to Develop Joint Field With Oman

Norway Co. Proposes to Develop  Joint Field With Oman
Norway Co. Proposes to Develop  Joint Field With Oman

Iran is studying a proposal by Norwegian energy company DNO to develop Hengam oil and gas field in the Persian Gulf, the only shared field between Iran and Oman, said Gholamreza Manouchehri, the deputy for development and engineering at the National Iranian Oil Company.

The official made the statement following a memorandum of understanding signed with DNO in Tehran late on Wednesday to develop Iran’s Changuleh Oilfield near the border with Iraq, Shana reported.

“DNO, which works as Oman’s operator in the joint field, has proposed to develop the field for Iran,” Manouchehri said.

He added that DNO is interested in developing Hengam based on a practice known as “unitization”, the joint development of a hydrocarbon reservoir which extends across two countries, based on which the two sides split production and profit.

“Countries with joint fields that also have friendly relations can take advantage of this policy which would help exploit shared hydrocarbon deposits more effectively,” Manouchehri said.

DNO is a Norwegian oil and gas company that operates in the Middle East and North Africa. It holds stakes in onshore and offshore licenses at various stages of exploration, development and production in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Tunisia and Somaliland.

The joint field, which is known as West Bukha within Oman’s maritime boundary, is located 70 kilometers off Iran’s coast in the Persian Gulf.

The field holds an estimated 700 million barrels of crude and more than 56 billion cubic meters of in-place gas reserves.

According to reports, Iran started production in 2010 and so far has reportedly managed to extract more than 35 million barrels of crude from the field. Oman reportedly started production a year earlier.

Hengam’s crude oil has an API gravity of 51, which is one of the lightest blends of oil in the world containing the least amount of impurities such as sulfur and water.

The American Petroleum Institute gravity, or API gravity, is a measure of how heavy or light petroleum liquids are compared to water. Crude oils with an API gravity of above 31 are considered light.

  Changuleh Project

DNO on Wednesday signed an agreement to study Changuleh oilfield and present a technical proposal to develop the field within six months.

Located in Ilam Province across the Iraqi border, Changuleh is estimated to hold 7 billion barrels of oil reserves.

The field is among several dozen oil and gas projects that are set to be tendered under the Iran Petroleum Contract, a new model of contracts aimed to bring in foreign technology and investment in Iran’s key petroleum industry.

According to published reports, Russian oil and gas companies Zarubezhneft and Russneft and a Croatian firm have also expressed interest in developing Changuleh.

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