Iran's National Oil Co. Studying Oilfield Development Proposals

The National Iranian Oil Company is studying proposals from foreign oil companies to develop the country's rich hydrocarbon reservoirs, said the deputy for development and engineering at the NIOC.

“The submitted proposals for each field will be scrutinized by separate technical teams," Gholamreza Manouchehri was quoted as saying by Shana on Friday.

According to Manouchehri, as soon as the preliminary assessments are over, NIOC's Reservoir Management Committee will decide on the best proposal and negotiations for signing contracts will begin.

"The foreign companies which have already studied the fields have a better chance to conclude deals with NIOC," Manouchehri said, noting that Austria's integrated oil and gas company OMV and France's Total have presented their master plans to develop Band-e-Karkheh field in southern Khuzestan Province and Phase 11 of South Pars Gas Field, respectively.

Commenting on other proposals, the official said technical teams are studying Korea Gas Corporation's plan to develop Belal Gas Field in Hormozgan Province, Japan's Inpex Corporation's proposal to develop Azadegan Oilfield in the southwest as well as Danish conglomerate Maersk Group's proposal to develop the oil layer of South Pars in the Persian Gulf.

On Russian oil and gas firm Zarubezhneft's competition with India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) to develop the coveted Farzad-B Gas Field in the Persian Gulf, Manouchehri said that both companies have presented their plans and NIOC's Reservoir Management Committee will announce its views soon.

There is a tough competition between Russia's Lukoil and Indonesia's Pertamina to develop the onshore Abteymour and Mansouri oilfields, according to Manouchehri, who said that Pertamina has shown more enthusiasm to undertake the project. "They (Pertamina) are fully equipped with the oil recovery (EOR) technology."

Elaborating on Pertamina's pre-master development plan (MPD) submitted to NIOC last week, he said the pre-MDP, which is the result of a 6-month study on the fields, is being assessed economically and financially.

Manouchehri added that based on the plan, the number of oil wells in Mansouri oilfield will increase from the current 81 to 365. Moreover, the recovery rate will rise from 2.35% to 14% and daily crude production will experience a 5-fold jump, from 65,000 barrels per day to 365,000 bpd.

Pointing to Pertamina's proposal, the official noted that the company has suggested utilizing submersible pumps, well acidizing and water injection to boost the oil recovery rate in Abteymour.

"According to Pertamina's proposal, the number of oil wells in Abteymour field will increase from the current 50 to 257. Moreover, the recovery rate will rise from 2.27% to 12% and daily crude production will finally reach 300,000 bpd," he said.

According to Manouchehri, holding tenders to develop the fields tops NIOC's agenda, yet there are speculations that either Mansouri or Abteymour could be offered to internationals without a tender.

Iran is pushing for new deals with multinationals to raise crude production despite a global oversupply and persistently low prices. It is now pumping close to 4 million barrels a day, a level last seen before the tightening of sanctions in 2011.