Gazprom Neft Presents Findings on Ilam Oilfields

Russia’s oil producer Gazprom Neft presented the result of its technical surveys on two Iranian oilfields, namely Changuleh and Cheshmeh Khosh, in the western Ilam Province in a meeting with Iranian officials on Tuesday.

Representatives of the National Iranian Oil Company, headed by the deputy for development and engineering, Gholamreza Manouchehri, and experts from the Iranian Offshore Oil Company, Iranian Central Oil Fields Company and Petroleum Engineering & Development Company, attended the meeting, which elaborated on the details of its studies on the oilfields, Shana reported.    

Gazprom Neft signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran in December to carry out feasibility studies on Changuleh and Cheshmeh Khosh oilfields.

Changuleh is estimated to hold 7 billion barrels of oil reserves. Production is expected to reach a maximum 75,000 bpd upon completion.

Iran is also reportedly drawing around 18,000 barrels of oil and 3 million cubic meters of natural gas a day from Cheshmeh Khosh field that was commissioned over 40 years ago.

On Monday, Vadislav Baryshnikov, deputy director of the Russian company, held a meeting with Amirhossein Zamaninia, the deputy oil minister for international affairs, and underlined his company’s willingness to expand oil and gas relations with Iran.

According to NIOC's news portal, the Oil Industries Engineering and Construction Company and Gazprom Neft signed another memorandum of understanding in late July in the Russian city of St. Petersburg to join forces in the assessment of geological potentials of Changuleh and Azar oilfields in Mehran, Ilam Province, near the border with Iraq.

Russia's energy major presented a preliminary plan for developing two Iranian oil and gas fields—Changuleh and Azar—in April.

Headquartered in St. Petersburg, Gazprom Neft is the oil arm of gas giant Gazprom, which owns about 96% of its shares.

Iran has signed agreements with well-known oil and gas companies, such as Shell, Total S.A., Japan's Inpex, Eni and Russia’s Zarubezhneft, on studying and potentially developing its hydrocarbon reservoirs. Most of the oil and gas field study agreements entail a six-month period.