Oil Majors Submit Development Plans for Iranian Oil Projects

Six international oil giants have completed their surveys and submitted plans to the National Iranian Oil Company for developing oil and gas reservoirs, chief executive officer of the NIOC said on Tuesday.

“Russia's Lukoil, Indonesia's Pertamina, Japan's Inpex, French energy giant Total S.A. and Denmark's Maersk Group are among the majors which have provided NIOC with the result of their technical studies," Ali Kardor was quoted as saying by ISNA.

The sixth unnamed company is reportedly the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) which was expected to present its proposal to develop Yadavaran and North Azadegan oilfields, two giant fields in southern Khuzestan Province.  

Referring to the agreements with foreign firms to study the hydrocarbon deposits, he added that preliminary agreements entail conducting surveys in six months, after which the companies should present development proposals.

"A number of companies are still undertaking research and have time to formulate their  development plans," Kardor said, noting that the submitted proposals for each field will be scrutinized by separate technical teams and as soon as the preliminary assessments are over, NIOC's Reservoir Management Committee will decide on the best proposals and negotiations to finalize the agreements will begin.

Pointing to the names of the oilfields, the official said Lukoil and Pertamina are competing to develop the onshore Abteymour and Mansouri oilfields in Khuzestan Province.

Moreover, the Danish conglomerate Maersk Group has proposed to develop the oil layer of South Pars in the Persian Gulf, which has already come on stream producing 25,000 barrels of crude per day.

"Besides developing Phase 11 of the giant South Pars field in the Persian Gulf, France's Total has submitted a development proposal for South Azadegan Oilfield near the Iran-Iraq border. Inpex, Japan's largest oil and gas exploration/production company, has also sent a proposal to develop the same oilfield."

Azadegan's in-place oil is estimated at 33.2 billion barrels, of which 6 billion barrels are deemed recoverable. It is the biggest oilfield discovered in Iran over three decades.

--- Other Proposals

Commenting on other proposals, Gholamreza Manouchehri, the deputy for development and engineering affairs at the NIOC, noted that Austria's integrated oil and gas company OMV has presented a master plan to develop Band-e-Karkheh field in southern Khuzestan.

Furthermore, technical teams are studying Korea Gas Corporation's plan to develop Belal Gas Field in Hormozgan Province.

On Russian oil and gas firm Zarubezhneft's competition with India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) to develop the Farzad-B Gas Field in the Persian Gulf, Manouchehri said both companies have presented their plans and NIOC's Reservoir Management Committee will announce the decision soon.

 Pointing to Pertamina's proposal, the official noted that the company has suggested utilizing submersible pumps, well acidizing and water injection to boost oil recovery rate in Abteymour.

"According to Pertamina's proposal, the number of oil wells in Abteymour field will increase from the current 50 to 257. Moreover, the recovery rate will rise from 2.27% to 12% and daily crude production will finally reach 300,000 bpd," he said.

Iran is pushing for new deals with multinationals to raise crude production despite a global oversupply and persistently low prices. It is now pumping close to 4 million barrels a day, a level last seen before the tightening of international economic sanctions in 2011.