A well at the Esfand Oil Field in the Persian Gulf has become operational, managing director of Drilling Company International, the executive arm of PetroIran Development Company, said.
PetroIran signed a contract with the Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) in 2018 to drill a new well that now produces 2,000 barrels of oil per day, the Oil Ministry news agency Shana reported Hamidreza Saqafi as saying.
Esfand is located 18 kilometers southeast of Siri Island. Prior to the launch of the new well, there were 29 wells operating in the field, producing 60,000 barrels of oil per day.
The field also produces 2.5 million cubic meters of gas a day, which is supplied to Siri Island. In addition, gas is piped to Kish Island as feedstock for thermal power plants.
The IOOC, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, operates Esfand Field as well as other oil fields in the Persian Gulf. DCI was established in 2009 to provide offshore drilling rigs and services.
Employing latest technology, DCI has improved and expanded offshore drilling capacity and supplying and maintaining drilling equipment.
The contract IOOC signed with PetroIran calls for enhancing oil production at the Sivand and Dena offshore fields in the Persian Gulf.
An increase of 16,000 barrels per day of crude production in the three fields is expected after the project is completed.
Shana said IOOC had wrapped up drilling operations for the first well of Sivand offshore oilfield. The Sivand field is located in the west of Siri Island 100 km north of the border with the UAE.
Iran has ramped up oil production in recent months. According to OPEC’s February report, Iran produced 2.084 million barrels per day of crude oil in January up 62,000-bpd compared to the earlier month.
The report put Iran’s average crude output in the last quarter of 2020 at 1.992 million barrels per day, indicating almost 44,000-bpd increase compared to the third quarter.
In addition to the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global oil industry that hammered oil prices, Iran’s key oil industry has been under added pressure from the 2018 US economic blockade that has targeted oil exports and the banking, shipping and insurance industries.
Iran has been subject to tough US sanctions since 2018, when the administration of then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from an international deal that restricted Iran’s nuclear activities.
President Joe Biden is expected to seek the restoration of that accord and officials in Tehran have expressed the hope he will ease restrictions on its petroleum sales. But for now, the sanctions are still in place and any buyer of Iranian crude would face the same legal and financial penalties that have deterred most potential customers over the past few years.
