Pergas to Submit Proposals for 2 Oilfields

Pergas Consortium, a group of international oil and gas companies, is to submit its development proposals for Karanj and Shadegan oilfields, two reservoirs in Khuzestan Province.

Ahmad Mohammadi, head of a special workgroup at the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) that oversees the development of southern oilfields, made the statement on Wednesday, ISNA reported.

"Pergas has made better progress in studying Karanj oilfield compared to its rivals, namely Schlumberger Ltd, MAPNA Group and Pasargad Energy Development Company, which are also conducting surveys on the same field," Mohammadi said.

Pergas is expected to provide NISOC with the result of its technical studies along with a development plan in August.

Pergas is an international engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance and project management consortium and a turnkey contractor in the oil and gas industry, according to its website. Its operations are largely concentrated in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Africa.

It is made up of 15 international oil and gas companies, including Norway's AGR, OiLSERV, an oilfield services provider, the UK's ByrneLooby, an engineering consultancy, Philippine state oil company PNOC and Sharif University of Technology. Dozens of foreign and domestic companies have signed agreements to study the country's rich hydrocarbon reserves. The agreements entail conducting surveys in six months, after which the companies should submit their proposals.

According to Mohammadi, NISOC is assigned to develop four oilfields in Khuzestan, namely Shadegan, Rag Sefid, Karanj and Parsi with a total of nine reservoirs, based on a special model of contracts developed by the company.

NISOC has developed a contractual framework that shares the fundamentals of Iran's oil contracts (Iran Petroleum Contract), but includes some different technical and financial terms.

  Long-Term Partnership

According to Colin Rowley, Pergas managing director, talks are underway with some Iranian exploration and production companies for long-term partnership. Moreover, Pergas is reportedly willing to allocate $1 billion to expand Shadegan and Karanj oilfields in the first phase, and if required increase the spending.

Highlighting the consortium's intention to build a win-win collaboration with NISOC, Rowley added, "We hope the National Iranian Oil Company will endorse the proposals by September so that the contract can be finalized by October. We are willing to train Iranian workers and transfer technology (in upstream petroleum industry) to the country."

According to oil officials, 24 memorandums of understanding have been concluded between Tehran and domestic and international giants to carry out studies on various onshore and offshore fields. A total of 75 oil and gas field development proposals are expected to be presented to the NIOC, nearly two dozen of which have been submitted so far.

According to reports, Total S.A., OMV, Lukoil, PGNiG, DeNico as well as Asian companies like CNPC, Inpex, KOGAS, Petronas, Pertamina, Wintershall of Germany and Norway’s DNO are among major names surveying Iran’s hydrocarbon reserves.