BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 26. Iran's crude oil and gas production will begin to increase significantly, as of the next Iranian year (March 21, 2023 through March 19, 2024), Iranian Deputy Oil Minister and the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Mohsen Khojasteh Mehr told IRNA, Trend reports.
“According to the studies conducted in the preceding Iranian year (March 21, 2021 through March 20, 2022), it was determined that a total of $160 billion worth of investment is needed to increase Iran's crude oil and gas production. Of that, $89 billion is considered for oil, and $71 billion for gas production,” Khojasteh Mehr said.
If the mentioned amount of investment is made, Iran's crude oil production capacity will increase to 5.7 million barrels per day, and gas production capacity will increase to 1.5 billion cubic meters per day, the CEO added.
The deputy minister also noted that related work in this direction has been launched within the various projects.
“Over the last Iranian year (March 21, 2022 through March 20, 2023), the economic council of the Iranian government approved a program worth $3.6 billion to increase gas production. Within the mentioned program, a total of 13 gas fields should be developed. Currently, 2 gas fields are being developed. In general, Iran’s gas production capacity will increase by 142 million cubic meters per day, while the gas condensate production capacity - by 100,000 barrels per day with the development of the planned gas fields,” the deputy minister pointed out.
There are currently 74 active oil and 22 active gas fields in Iran. So, 37 oil fields are operating in the territory of the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC), 14 fields – Iranian Central Oil Fields Company (ICOFC), 5 fields – Arvandan Oil and Gas Company (AOGC), and 18 oil fields – Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC).
In addition, 5 gas fields are operating in the territory of the NISOC, 13 fields – the ICOFC, 1 field – Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC), and 3 gas fields – the IOOC.
Iran’s total hydrocarbon reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion barrels. With available technology and equipment, Iran can extract 340 billion barrels. Thus, 30 percent of the country's hydrocarbon reserves are recoverable, while 70 percent remain underground.
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