National Iranian South Oil Company and Iran Central Oil Fields Company, both subsidiaries of the National Iranian Oil Company, signed contracts with domestic oil and gas companies on Tuesday to develop nine oilfields.
According to Shana, the production, maintenance and enhancement agreements, worth $6 billion, include 33 projects to raise oil output by 300,000 barrels a day within three years.
Giving a breakdown earlier on the venture, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said 29 projects will be undertaken onshore and the rest offshore.
"The contracts will boost the morale of local companies as [the US] wants to cause anxiety and disappoint the Iranian people” by its open hostility and unending economic pressure tactics.
The projects will create jobs in southern and western provinces, namely Khuzestan, Bushehr, Fars, Hormozgan, Ilam and Kohkilouyeh and Boyer Ahmad.
NIOC will fund the projects to the tune of 80% --- including via bond issuance --- and contractors will put up 20%, he said.
Some 30 trillion rials ($3 billion) worth of Islamic bonds (Sukuk) will be issued by March to fund the first phase of the projects.
Zanganeh said after the fields operate for a year and a half, operators would have to use their own funds to cover costs.
The deal is in line with the government plan to boost oil output from joint hydrocarbon deposits. Iran owns 145 oil and gas fields, of which 26 are shared with neighbors including Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan.
High Priority
Over the years the government has placed higher priority on shared fields. Iran currently produces almost 3.7 million bpd of crude oil per day.
Oilfields that will be developed are Kaboud and Danan in Andimeshk in Khuzestan Province, Gachsaran and Nargesi in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, Lali in Masjed Soleyman in Khuzestan Province, Sadatabad in Shiraz and Naftshahr in Kermanshah Province.
The agreements entail upgrading half-century old infrastructure, laying pipelines, drilling and repairing wells, installing well-head equipment and building roads
Referring to key parts of the deal, he said NISOC signed the agreements with Pars Energy-Gostar Drilling and Exploration, National Iranian Drilling Company, Petro Gohar Farasahel Kish, Dana Drilling Kish Company and the Oil Industries Engineering and Construction Company.
ICOFC concluded contracts with Iran's top engineering and energy enterprise MAPNA and Global Petro Tech Kish.
The agreements entail upgrading half-century old infrastructure, laying pipelines, drilling and repairing wells, installing well-head equipment and building roads.
According to Zanganeh, to raise crude output in Sivand, Esfand and Dena offshore oilfields off the Persian Gulf, the Iranian Offshore Oil Company signed a contract, worth $120 million with PetroIran Development Company last month.
Drilling, repairing and completion of 13 wells in the three fields, in addition to drilling four new wells, re-drilling six wells and repairing three others are enshrined in the contract. Work will be carried out by local engineers and workers.
New Oilfields
"Iran has discovered oil in the southwestern Abadan region for the first time," Zanganeh said, adding that it was found at a depth of 3,570 meters in an exploratory well and is "very light and sweet".
This is “the first time we have found oil in the Abadan region,” the minister was quoted as saying. He gave no further details.
Iran cannot be shut out of global energy markets because of its vast oil and gas reserves, President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday, according to the official presidency website.
“With regard to oil issues, luckily we are pursuing various paths and roads for selling oil and we bypass American sanctions,” Rouhani said.
The United States withdrew from a nuclear deal with Iran last year and imposed new sanctions to strangle Iran’s oil and banking industries while temporarily allowing eight customers including India and China to keep buying Iranian crude.
