Iran Oil Co. Preparing Yadavaran Oilfield Tender

The National Iranian Oil Company is taking steps to tender the second development phase of Yadavaran Oilfield in an oil block known as the West Karoun in Khuzestan Province, according to the chief executive officer of the Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC).

“Documents are being prepared and a tender will be held soon,” Noureddine Shahnazizadeh told ISNA on Saturday.

According to Shahnazizadeh, Iran is drawing 110,000 barrels per day from the joint field with Iraq located 70 kilometers west of the city of Ahvaz in Khuzestan Province near the Iraqi border.   

"The extraction rate can reach 135,000 bpd in the first phase," he said, adding that talks are being held between the NIOC and multinationals, namely French energy giant Total S.A., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Italy's Eni SpA as well as Japan's Inpex Corp to participate in the tender to develop the second phase of the field based on Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC), a new model of contracts that will be used to develop upstream exploration/production projects.

He noted that the field's output is expected to reach 180,000 barrels per day in the second phase before exceeding 300,000 bpd in the third. Asked about the western Arab neighbor, he said that Iraq started production from Yadavaran last year.

Based on recent studies, the field's in-place crude reserves were revised to more than 31 billion barrels from 12 billion barrels. The official said Iran has planned to raise production from Yadavaran in three phases and there are prospects for introducing a fourth and a fifth development phase for the joint field.

Around 83,000 barrels of Yadavaran production is a blend of light crude and the rest is heavy crude.

  Yaran Production Soon

Shahnazizadeh said that production from the South Yaran Oilfield in the same block is expected to commence in less than a month.

"We are confident that crude oil extraction from South Yaran will begin within two months at a rate of 10,000 barrels per day and will soon reach 25,000 barrels a day."

Yaran oilfield, which is divided into the northern and southern sections, is part of a string of oilfields in an oil-rich region in Khuzestan near the border with Iraq.

"The 10,000-bpd target is well within reach, but we may have to wait until the end of this fiscal year (March 2018) to raise production to 25,000 bpd," Shahnazizadeh noted.

Iran is currently drawing 30,000 bpd from the North Yaran field, but plans are in place to triple the output using enhanced oil recovery methods.

West Karoun holds an estimated 67 billion barrels of oil in place.

Production from all oilfields in the West Karoun block is close to 300,000 barrels a day. According to published reports, Iran is currently drawing crude from the block at an unacceptable extraction rate of 5-6%.