Hungarians in Oil, Gas Talks

Hungary's state-owned oil and gas group MOL is willing to help raise the rate of recovery from Iran's onshore and offshore oilfields with the help of the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques.

Amirhossein Zamaninia, deputy oil minister for international affairs, made the statement after talks with MOL deputy chief executive officer, Berislav Gaso, late on Wednesday in Tehran, Shana, the Oil Ministry news portal, reported.

"Constructive talks were held with the Hungarian energy delegation, which was headed by Janos Kovacs, the Hungarian ambassador to Tehran," Zamaninia said, noting that MOL officials were provided detailed information about investment opportunities in Iran's lucrative oil and gas sector.

The average rate of recovery from Iran's oilfields is around 25% but it should reach 40%, officials say.

Iran's in-place oil reserves are estimated at 800 billion barrels. Raising the recovery rate by merely 1% is equivalent to adding 8 billion barrels to production which would generate $400 billion at current crude prices.

According to Zamaninia, the negotiations also revolved around forming joint ventures with domestic companies in natural gas ventures, particularly pipe-laying and gas supply projects.

"The two sides also discussed other matters of mutual interest, namely LPG trade and projects related to refineries, LNG and natural gas liquids (NGLs)."

Referring to the shipment of an oil cargo to one of MOL's refineries, Zamaninia noted that the Hungarian major is assessing the quality of Iranian crude and should it comply with their needs, further talks will be held for long-term deals.

Highlighting MOL's interest in expanding ties with the National Iranian Oil Company, Gaso said his company wanted to import 40,000 barrels of light oil per day from Iran last year, but the country was low on light crude supplies as most of its shipments are made up of Iran Heavy, its main oil grade for export.

MOL operates refineries in Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia. It also has exploration and production assets in the North Sea and countries, including Pakistan and Iraq.

"MOL resumed talks with NIOC shortly after sanctions against Iran were lifted," he said, noting that the Budapest-based firm is active in 33 countries with a workforce of over 26,000 people and a track record of more than 70 years in the upstream and downstream industries.

According to Ali Kardor, head of the NIOC, Tehran has set its sights on raising crude oil export to Europe in 2017 as the number of customers wanting to buy Iranian crude is on the rise.

The NIOC has increased exports to European customers to 700,000 barrels per day. However, Tehran aims to increase the shipments to the pre-sanctions peak of 800,000 bpd.