Zarubezhneft Expanding Foray in Iranian Oil Sector

Russia’s Zarubezhneft presented the result of its technical surveys on two Iranian joint oilfields with Iraq in a meeting in Tehran on Monday.

The state-owned oil and gas company elaborated on methods for raising the rate of recovery in Aban and West Paydar fields in a meeting with representatives of the National Iranian Oil Company and Iranian Central Oil Fields Company, Shana reported.

ICOFC is in charge of developing Aban and West Paydar fields.

NIOC and Zarubezhneft signed a nondisclosure agreement last year as part of a deal that allowed the Russian state-run oil company to conduct studies on Aban and West Paydar.

The agreement was signed by Ali Kardor, the managing director of NIOC, and Sergey Kudryashov, Zarubezhneft's general director, in Tehran.

Referring to Zarubezhneft's half-a-century-old experience in energy sector, Kudryashov had said that the company formulates unique strategies to treat different wells in different oil and gas fields separately to ensure maximum recovery.

Zarubezhneft specializes in exploration, development and operation of oil and gas fields.

Aban Oilfield in the western Ilam Province and West Paydar in Khuzestan Province near the Iraqi border are among dozens of Iran's upstream exploration and production projects after last year's lifting of sanctions.

Gazprom Neft, another Russian oil company, recently presented its findings on Changuleh and Cheshmeh Khosh oilfields in Ilam. Last month, Thailand’s state-owned PTTEP presented its findings on Balal, Changuleh and Dalpari oilfields to NIOC.

--- $6b Venture

Zarubezhneft is expanding its foray in Iran's energy market in an agreement that places the Moscow-based company beside Iran's Ghadir Investment Company and Turkey's Unit International.

Ghadir, a subsidiary of Bank Saderat Iran, signed a preliminary agreement with Zarubezhneft and Unit International in Moscow last month on joint investment in oil and gas development projects.

Mahmoud Mar'ashi, the head of upstream operations of Ghadir, said the consortium could spend over $6 billion in three Iranian oilfields and a gas field, but collaboration will not be limited to the Middle Eastern country.

"The final amount of investment depends on whether the projects will be offshore or onshore, but total investment is forecast to be around $6 billion" for Darkhoveyn, Sepehr and Jofeyr oilfields in Khuzestan Province as well as the offshore Kish natural gas deposit in the Persian Gulf.

The official said Zarubezhneft is a leading oil company in technical and operational terms and described Turkey's Unit as a key investor in energy projects. According to a statement by Unit International, the three firms will be equal partners in any potential collaboration.

The first and second development phases of Darkhoveyn field were developed by Italy's Eni and the consortium is looking to secure development rights for the third phase.

With some 5 billion barrels of crude oil in place, Darkhoveyn is the largest of the three deposits. Estimates show that more than one-fifth of the field's reserves are recoverable. Sepehr and Jofeyr each hold an estimated 2 billion barrels of crude oil in place.

Iran is reportedly drawing around 160,000 barrels per day from Darkhoveyn. The third phase is aimed at raising daily output by an additional 50,000 barrels.