Azerbaijan, Baku, May 29/Trend M. Moezzi
If Iran were to increase the average recovery factor from its petroleum reserves, the value of those reserves would grow $758 billion (USD) says a top oil ministry official.
As mandated in its Fifth Five-Year Socio Economic Development Plan (2011-2015), Iran is to boost its recovery factor by one per cent every year added Ahmad Qalebani, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Mehr news agency reports. The recovery factor is the ratio of recoverable oil or gas to a reservoir's total supply.
Right now Iran's recovery factor is 18.6 per cent for its offshore oil and 26.9 per cent for its onshore reserves. Its combined recovery factor is 25.42 per cent.
Iran has an average recovery factor of 77.49 per cent from its offshore gas reserves and 65.22 per cent from its onshore gas reserves, said Mr. Qalebani.
NIOC's managing director made the comments at a ceremony marking the start of a consortium of universities that will work on boosting Iran's recovery factor.
Mr. Qalebani said the consortium's work will be the NIOC's biggest research project and added that Saudi Arabia and China recently agreed to form a research centre dedicated to greater oil and gas recovery factors.