While preliminary estimations indicated that Yadavaran oilfield's reservoir contains approximately 17 billion barrels of oil, a recent study has assessed the figure to stand at 34 billion barrels, Shana news agency reported.
The oilfield's master development plan (MDP) was submitted recently, but it needs to be reassessed by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC)'s board of directors, Abdolreza Haji Hosseinnejad, managing director of the Petroleum Engineering & Development Company (PEDEC) said, adding that the projection is definite with regards to the third phase.
Yadavaran is one of the oilfields of the West Karoun oil region, jointly owned by Iran and Iraq, and it comprises two Hosseinieh and Koushk fields. The field, called Sinbad on the Iraqi side, is expected to produce 300,000 bpd once all three phases are completed.
There has been an early production of 50,000 bpd, with 55 wells having been drilled so far. It is projected that the 85,000 bpd targeted in the first phase will be achieved early next year (begins March 22).
A $2 billion contract for development of the field was signed between China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation Company (Sinopec) and PEDEC in November 2007, whereby the Chinese company undertook to produce 85,000 bpd in the first phase, and 100,000 bpd in the second phase.
Iraq has so far produced no oil from the field. Iran has produced 54,000 bpd of oil from its portion of the field since January 2012, which makes it the only joint field where Iran's production has exceeded that of the other holder.
The parliament passed a law in November requiring the government to increase extraction of crude oil, gas and gas condensate from joint fields "at least on a par" with neighboring countries.
According to the law, the volume of extraction from joint fields must reach a minimum of 100 million tons per year in ten years. Additionally, the crude and gas condensate refining capacity must increase by at least 5 million barrels per day.
Iran holds the world’s second largest natural gas reserves after Russia, and the fourth-largest proven crude oil reserves. Total oil reserves are estimated at 150 billion barrels.
