Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 18
By Gazenfer Hamidov – Trend:
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) investigated the proposals submitted by Austrian OMV and Iranian Ghadir Investment Company and Pasargad Energy Development Company (PEDC) for development of three oil fields.
The proposals for development of Sepehr, Jofeir and Band-e-Karkheh oilfields were discussed in two recent meetings of the NIOC special advisory committee for management of the country’s oil reservoirs, Integrated Planning Department of NIOC said in a statement.
Last year OMV, the international, integrated oil and gas company based in Vienna, signed an MOU with NIOC to study Band-e-Karkheh oil field.
OMV entered Iran in 2001 as the operator of the Mehr exploration block in western Iran, leading to discovery of Band-e-Karkheh in 2005. The company left Iran as international sanctions were tightened against the Islamic Republic. As a result, all development activities that it had to carry out on Band-e-Karkheh were halted.
Band-e-Karkheh is located 20 kilometers northwest of Ahwaz, the provincial capital of Khuzestan. The field is 35 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide, and is estimated to hold more than 4.5 billion barrels of crude oil in place with an API gravity of 24. The field is forecast to have a production capacity of 7,500 bpd of crude oil.
Ghadir Investment Company, a major Iranian conglomerate, also signed a non-disclosure agreement with the NIOC last April to study development of four oil and gas fields including Sepehr and Jofeir and submit the study results to the NIOC within six months.
Sepehr Oilfield is a reservoir in the West Karoun oil block in Khuzestan province. According to estimates, the field holds 800 million barrels of in-situ reserves.
Jofeir field is located at 50 kilometers west of Ahwaz city and also contains some gas deposits. Latest NIOC data show the combined output of Jofeir and Sepehr fields is below 2,000 barrels per day.
Jofeir’s development is aimed at extracting 25,000 bpd of crude.
