The Iranian Offshore Oil Company, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, is determined to raise crude production by about 50,000 barrels per day in the next fiscal (starting March 21), the company's chief executive officer said.
"Several reservoirs, including Salman, Doroud and Norouz, are under development, the implementation of which will [next year] add up to 10% to the company's current production of 450,000 bpd," Hamid Bovard was also quoted as saying by NIOC's news portal on Saturday.
IOOC is in charge of developing crude oil reservoirs in the Persian Gulf region, including Abouzar, Hendijan, Bahregansar, Reshadat, Soroush, Norouz, Salman and Doroud fields as well as collecting associated petroleum gases in Kharg Island and Bahregan oil region in the Persian Gulf.
The oilfields under development by IOOC hold an estimated 100 billion barrels of crude, comprising roughly 15% of the country's total oil reserves.
Bovard noted that plans to develop Forouzan Oilfield are also going well and the field will add an estimated 15,000 bpd to the company's total output.
According to Bovard, IOOC has installed four jackets in Forouzan and Doroud fields. Besides, seven platforms are under construction with the work-in-progress of 40-80%.
Located 100 km southwest of Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, Forouzan is one of Iran's two joint oilfields with Saudi Arabia. It was discovered in 1996 with an estimated in-place reserve of 2.3 billion barrels of crude.
The production of 180,000 bpd started from the field in 1987, but declined to 40,000 bpd in 2000. The country aims to extract more than 300 million barrels of oil from the field within a 25-year timeframe.
Referring to Esfandiar Oilfield, another major reservoir in the Persian Gulf, the official said the company is in talks with a domestic contractor and a South Korean company, although no progress has been made yet.
Discovered in 1966, the joint field with Saudi Arabia has been one of the country's least developed oilfields. It is located 95 kilometers southwest of Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf and holds an estimated 532 million barrels of crude oil.
IOOC's move comes in line with Iran's plan to boost oil production from its offshore hydrocarbon deposits. The country has 145 hydrocarbon fields, of which 26 are shared with neighbors, including Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan.
The government has placed a higher priority for shared fields to reach its goal of 4 million bpd of oil production next year. Iran currently pumps nearly 3.8 million bpd of crude oil.
