Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 9
By Umid Niayesh- Trend:
Iran is constructing three new oil platforms in the Hengam oil field in the Hormoz Strait, 70 kilometers off the coast of the country, Babak Abbaspour, an Iranian official, said.
Abbaspour, who serves as the managing director of the Offshore Sector of the Iranian Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Complex Company (ISOICO), noted that the three platforms would be operational in under two years, Mehr news agency reported on Nov. 9.
The official further stated that each platform was capable of producing 25,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Earlier, a South Korean company was tasked with developing offshore platforms in the Hengam joint oilfield, but after two years, the company was dismissed from the project due to failing to fulfill its commitments.
Hengam is an Iranian-Omani joint oil-gas field in the Persian Gulf. Iran currently extracts some 20,000 barrels per day of oil from the field, while Oman extracts half of that amount. The two countries are locked in a dispute over their share of the field. Iran claims 80 percent of the field is located within its territorial waters.
According to Iran's estimation, the field holds some 700 million barrels of oil and 56 billion cubic meters of gas. Iran plans to establish facilities to collect 2.2 million cubic meters of associated petroleum gas per day from the field.
Abbaspour also revealed that Iran and Oman were discussing the joint development of the Hengam oilfield, adding that if the parties were to reach an agreement, the ISOICO would be ready to play a more active role in developing the field.
Earlier, Saeed Hafezi, managing director of the Iranian Offshore Oil Company, said Tehran and Muscat have held three rounds of talks on the joint field.
The official noted that the National Iranian Oil Company "prefers cooperation over competition," but any bilateral agreement would depend on the determination of those on the other side of the negotiating table.
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