Indian oil company ONGC Videsh signed a memorandum of understanding with IDRO Oil, a subsidiary of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran, in Tehran on Tuesday to conduct surveys on the development of Susangerd Oilfield in Khuzestan Province.
Pointing to a recent deal between the Russian oil and gas firm Zarubezhneft Company and IDRO Oil to study the same oilfield, Nassrollah Zarei, the head of IDRO Oil, said," IDRO Oil is making a concerted effort to form a consortium and join the Russian and the Indian firm to develop the field," IRNA reported.
According to the official, the National Iranian Oil Company assigned IDRO Oil to develop the field because of which the company chose Austria's HOT Engineering Company to provide it with consultancy services, technical support and a master development plan to scrutinize the field's upstream prospects.
IDRO Oil is holding talks with potential foreign partners to single out the one with the most viable economic alternatives.
Zarei noted that plans are underway to submit the final plan to NIOC by the end of March with the help of ONGC Videsh and Zarubezhneft.
As per the agreement with ONGC Videsh, a joint committee will conduct technical surveys on the oilfield.
"The committee will announce the decision soon … In case of reaching mutual understanding, negotiations will be held with NIOC to sign cooperation deals on the oilfield," he said.
Zarei said initial estimates show the field's development would require an investment of $900 million.
HOT is a reservoir exploration and production consultancy and knowledge-based company with headquarters in Austria and branch offices in Germany, the UAE and Libya. The enterprise is a provider of advanced and integrated geological, geophysical, petrophysical, reservoir and production engineering technology.
Susangerd Oilfield, with an estimated 5 billion barrels of in-place oil and 500 million barrels of recoverable reserves, is located 45 kilometers west of the city of Ahvaz in Khuzestan. The field's daily output stands at 30,000 barrels, but the adoption of state-of-the-art oil recovery methods is expected to boost extraction.
Reports say other national and foreign companies have also shown interest in working on the field's development. Earlier in February, Pars Petro Zagros Engineering and Services Company signed an MoU with NIOC to conduct studies on Susangerd Oilfield.
According to Gholamreza Manouchehri, the deputy for development and engineering at NIOC, Austria's integrated oil and gas company OMV, Russia's Lukoil, Indonesia's Pertamina, Japan's Inpex, French energy giant Total S.A. and Denmark's Maersk Group have embarked on studying the oilfield. However, NIOC's main policy is to involve domestic firms in the development of oil and gas fields.
