NIOC Signs $1.7b Contracts With Domestic Firms

The National Iranian South Oil Company and Iran Central Oil Fields Company -- both subsidiaries of the National Iranian Oil Company -- signed contracts with 14 domestic oil and gas companies on Monday to develop eight oilfields.
According to the Oil Ministry news agency, production, maintenance and enhancement agreements, worth $1.7 billion, include 33 projects to raise oil output by 185,000 barrels a day within three years.
Giving a breakdown, Masoud Karbasian, head of NIOC, said 29 projects are onshore and the rest offshore. The projects will create jobs in the southern and western regions, namely Khuzestan, Bushehr, Hormozgan and Kohkilouyeh-Boyer Ahmad.
NIOC will fund the projects to the tune of 80% --- including via bond issuance --- and contractors will put up 20%, Karbasian said.
After the fields produce for a year and a half, operators would have to use their own funds to cover costs.
The deal is in line with government plans 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.
Some domestic firms which will undertake the projects are Global Petro Tech Kish Co., Persia Oil And Gas Industry Development Co., Petroiran Development Company, Pasargad Energy Development Co., North Drilling Company and Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company.
Oilfields to be developed include Siah-Makan and Chelingar in Gachsaran, Kohkilouyeh-Boyer Ahmad Province, Balaroud, Maroun, Mansourabad and Ramin in Khuzestan, Resalat in Hormozgan and Forouzan in Bushehr Province.