Worth of Iranian oil reserves to rise by $30bn

The Soroush oilfield, with more than 10 billion barrels of in-place reserves, is one of the largest oilfields in the Persian Gulf and recoverable reserves of the oilfield are estimated at 585 million barrels.

The last developmental phase of the field was carried out by the English-Dutch Shell Oil Company in the year 2000. However, in order to protect the oil and gas production projects, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has carried out a project to increase the recovery factor of Soroush oilfield; it is estimated that the 10-percent increase in recovery factor will raise production of oil from the field by one billion barrels of crude oil in the offshore oilfield.

In other words, in case of the one-billion-barrel rise in the recoverable crude oil reserve of the oilfield and taking into account the value of each barrel of crude oil at 30 dollars (based on current market prices), about 30 billion dollars will be added to the worth of Iranian crude oil reserves.

Describing the new program to increase the recovery factor of Soroush oilfield as the largest oilfield in the Persian Gulf, Head of Technology and Research at Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) Javad Rostami said “with the new cooperative project between IOOC and universities, different scenarios are being reviewed to increase the recovery factor of the oilfield.”

Rostami stressed that Soroush enjoys a high degree of potential for increasing the recovery factory while its initial recovery factor is about five per cent.

The official further enumerated various possible methods for increasing the oilfield’s recovery factor including injection of miscible or non-miscible gas as well as chemical injection; “good ties have been developed between IOOC and Sahand University of Tabriz and the comprehensive road map for the implementation of EOR projects in the field are being designed be benefiting from some foreign consultants,” he asserted.

Soroush oil field was discovered in 1962 and was made operational after drilling the first well that yielded 14,000 barrels crude oil from Burgan oil layer; the approximate area of the field is about 260 sq. km. and is located 82 km southwest of Kharg Island.

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