Petropars Signs $1.3 Billion S. Azadegan Oilfield Agreement

The National Iranian Oil Company concluded an agreement with the domestic company Petropars to develop the giant South Azadegan Oilfield in Khuzestan Province.
The $1.3 billion contract aims to raise output to 320,000 barrels a day by 2023. The field’s total production stood at 45,000 barrels in 2013, which has now increased to 140,000 bpd.
Outlining provisions of the deal, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said the project includes drilling 35 wells, installing 50 electrical submersible pumps on production wells, constructing and upgrading ground facilities, designing enhanced oil recovery methods and laying 450-km of oil and gas pipelines.
Petropars was also assigned the task of constructing a crude oil central processing plant at the oilfield at an estimated cost of $300 million. The processing plant has a planned capacity of 320,000 bpd. 
Work entails construction of a central treatment and export plant, a fire-fighting facility, a permanent camp and warehouses. The treatment plant will process six million cubic meters of natural gas that will be used as feedstock in Bandar-e-Imam Khomeini Petrochemical plant in Ahvaz.

The contract includes drilling 35 wells, installing 50 electrical submersible pumps on production wells, constructing and upgrading ground facilities, designing enhanced oil recovery methods and laying 450-km of oil and gas pipelines
 

Petropars was tasked with developing Belal Gas Field in the Persian Gulf in 2019. The project will produce 14 mcm/d of sour gas in three years that will be transferred to the offshore platform of Phase 12 of South Pars Gas Field (off the Persian Gulf). After processing it will be pumped to an onshore refinery via an undersea pipeline. 
“This and other contracts show that the (US) sanctions have not stopped us. Our oil, gas and petrochemical industries are functioning,” the minister said.
Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from 2015 nuclear deal, signed between Iran and six world powers, in May 2018 when all International Atomic Energy Agency reports indicated that Iran was complying with the deal. 
The hostile US administration imposed sanctions on Iran in what is called a ‘maximum pressure campaign’, targeting its key economic sectors, namely oil, banking and shipping industries.
Referring to the development of Farzad-B Gas Field in the Persian Gulf, Zanganeh said no agreement will be signed with India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.
“Farzad-B Gas Field will be developed by domestic firms. Foreign companies have refused to collaborate with us fearing America’s ire.”
He did not name the Iranian firm nor say when the deal would be signed.
Located 100 km west of Ahvaz, South Azadegan is estimated to hold 27 billion barrels of oil in place, of which 1.7 billion barrels are extractable. It is part of the West Karoun oil block in Khuzestan.
West Karoun, Iran's top priority for raising crude production to restore market share it lost to international sanctions, includes Mansouri, Yaran, Yadavaran as well as North and South Azadegan joint fields. The block holds an estimated 67 billion barrels of oil in place.
Petropars was founded in 1998 to contribute to the development of vast energy resources. It is one of the leading contractors of upstream oil and gas projects.