Thai State Oil Company to Study 3 Iran Oilfields

Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday with PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP), Thailand's state oil company, to study three oilfields in western and southern Iran.

The agreement was signed in Tehran by Gholamreza Manouchehri, director of development and engineering for the National Iranian Oil Company and Prapat Soponpongpipat, PTTEP's executive vice president for geosciences and exploration group, the Oil Ministry's news agency Shana reported.

Under the agreement, the Thai firm will study Changuleh, Belal and Dalpari oilfields.

"PTTEP will present its findings to the NIOC within six months along with a proposal to develop the three fields," Manouchehri said, adding that agreements of similar terms and conditions have been signed with other multinationals.

PTTEP has received a draft version of Iran's new model of contracts, officially dubbed as Iran Petroleum Contract, which is designed to develop major upstream petroleum projects.

Soponpongpipat also hoped the oil agreement will lead to closer cooperation with Iran. "We will use all of our capacity in studying the oilfields and secure the development rights for at least one field."

Based in Bangkok, the state-owned company is active in exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas. It was founded in 1985 and currently has operations in eleven countries.

  Oilfield Data

Located in the western Ilam Province across the Iraqi border, Changuleh is estimated to hold 7 billion barrels of oil reserves. Production is expected to reach a maximum 75,000 bpd upon completion. 

Dalpari is another oilfield in Ilam. It is one of the country's underdeveloped fields although its discovery goes back to almost four decades ago. Data shows that Ilam holds 11% of Iran's total oil and gas reserves.

Balal is an offshore field off the coast of Hormozgan Province in the Persian Gulf, close to Qatar's maritime boundary. The field, which came into operation in 2002, is estimated to hold 117 million barrels of ultra light crude. 

According to latest reports, Iran used to draw around 40,000 barrels of crude per day from the field but output has dropped to 20,000 barrels at present. Tehran aims to boost the field's crude output and also tap into its natural gas layer. 

Belal was among the 50 plus oil and gas projects that Tehran unveiled to international investors in a conference last year.

  Cooperation With Multinationals

PTTEP joins the ranks of Total and Pertamina who have signed agreements to study Iran's hydrocarbon deposits ahead of long-anticipated tenders for several dozen oil and gas development projects.

Russia's Lukoil is poised to sign two oilfield agreements with Iran, namely Ab-Teymour and Mansouri, in the fall of 2017. The company is now conducting technical studies over the two oilfields and is expected to hand over its findings to the NIOC.

Malaysia's oil giant Pertamina also signed a nondisclosure agreement in August to study the same fields with six months.

Polish oil and gas company PGNiG has signed an MoU to conduct studies on Sumar Oilfield in western Kermanshah Province.

Zarubezhneft, another major Russian oil and gas firm, is reportedly discussing terms to boost extraction from two Iranian oilfields shared with Iraq, namely, Aban and West Paydar.

In March, NIOC signed an agreement with French energy major Total S.A. to study the  South Azadegan Oilfield.