Tehran, Iran, March. 3
By Kamyar Eghbalnejad – Trend:
A senior Iranian oil official has said that the country’s crude output is expected to increase by 150,000 tons following the implementation of three new contracts.
Deputy Head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) for Engineering and Development Affairs, Gholamreza Manouchehri, has said that the three oil contracts are expected to be inked over the next fiscal year (starting March 20).
He made the remarks on the sidelines of the 2nd Iran International Exploration & Production Congress & Exhibition (Iran E&P 2018) in Tehran.
Saying that the contracts include Iran’s medium-size oil fields, he added that Sepeher, Yaran and Aban are among the fields to be developed under the new contracts.
Following the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA aka nuclear deal), the Islamic Republic, freed from crippling sanctions, has sought to develop the country’s oil and gas fields.
Tehran, immediately after removing the country’s oil sanctions in 2016, introduced the Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) in a move to replace the old buyback model.
National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) later said it launched serious talks with potential foreign suitors in order to hold tenders to hand out the development projects.
The country’s shared fields, including West Karoun region, which has five major fields of North Azadegan, South Azadegan, North Yaran, South Yaran and Yadavaran, were among the prioritized projects to be developed in the framework of the new IPC tenders.
Iranian oil ministry plans to boost the output of the region to 700,000 barrels per day by March 2019. However, the oil ministry has been slow in fulfilling the plans and no serious improvement has been reported on holding any tenders within the IPC model.
Iran’s overall crude output has reached about 3.8 million barrels per day and the country currently exports about 2.6 million barrels of crude and condensate.
