NIOC: 3 Foreign Oilfield Proposals Under Review

The National Iranian Oil Company is vetting the proposals of foreign oil giants for developing three oilfields in southern Iran.

"Different committees are scrutinizing the proposals presented to expand four major oilfields, namely the onshore Abteymour and Mansouri oilfields in Khuzestan Province as well as Changouleh and Yadavaran oilfields near the Iraqi border," said Karim Zobeidi, the head of a special department at NIOC that oversees the performance of reservoirs, ISNA reported on Tuesday.

According to Zobeidi, proposals are first studied in a technical committee headed by Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh and then scrutinized by another team called "consulting committee" that comprises top oil experts.

"Eventually, the proposals will be sent to NIOC's Reservoir Management Committee, which will make the final decision on the most attractive proposal," he said.

Elaborating on the long and complex process of studying development plans, the official said, "Proposals presented by Norway’s DNO, Russia’s Gazprom Neft PJSC, and Thailand’s state-owned PTTEP to expand Changouleh oilfield have been accepted by the first committee, but they are still to be analyzed and compared economically by the consulting committee."

Changuleh was discovered in 1999 as a result of explorations conducted by a consortium comprising Russia’s Lukoil and Norway’s Statoil. The field's development is estimated to require an investment of $2.2 billion.

Officials in Tehran have already speculated that Changuleh could be linked to another major nearby field, named Azar that is believed to be shared with Iraq's Badra field.

Pointing to Abteymour and Mansouri oilfields, Zobeidi noted that Lukoil, Russia’s No. 2 oil producer, as well as Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas company, Pertamina and Danish conglomerate Maersk Group have already proposed their master plans to take part in the development of  the two fields in central-western Iran.

"The consulting committee is still working on proposals," Zobeidi said, adding that as soon as preliminary studies are completed, the Reservoir Management Committee will select the most financially viable alternative.

Referring to technical surveys of Lukoil and Pertamina on Mansouri oil deposit, he said findings include the reservoir characteristics, proposed development phases and various scenarios for production and increasing the recovery rate in the field.

Asked about Royal Dutch Shell's development proposal for expanding Azadegan and Yadavaran oilfields south of Iran, he noted that the plan does not include necessary details, which is why it may take longer to be studied.

  New Deals

According to Zanganeh, Tehran aims to sign 10 new oil deals by the end of the current fiscal year (March 20, 2018).

The onshore Azadegan, Sohrab, Azar, Abteymour and Mansouri oilfields in southern and southwestern Iran as well as the oil layer of the giant South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf are the ministry's top-priority ventures.

Royal Dutch Shell, Germany's Wintershall, Austria's OMV, Total, Italy's Eni, Denmark's Maersk, Pertamina, ONGC, Rosneft, China's CNPC and Sinopec, Petronas and Thailand's PTTEP are among the companies approved to compete for oil and gas projects.