On the verge of inviting the first tender for development of Iranian oilfields in the post-JCPOA era, Shell and Total have embarked on a rivalry over development of Iran’s largest oil field.
At the same time, with arrival of Japan’s Inpex Corporation for the same purpose, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) is seeking to take the most out of capacities of the three oil giants by shaping a consortium with presence of an Iranian firm.
Oil Minister Zanganeh has also recently pointed to the growing competitiveness among international companies for expansion of the Iranian field; “Iran deems it permissible if a foreign party is eager to cooperate with other international companies in addition to a must-be Iranian firm.”
An official at Iran's Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC) says NIOC has so far inked four MoUs or confidentiality agreement with France’s Total, Britain’s Shell, Inpex of Japan as well as Malaysia’s PETRONAS for development of Azadegan oil field.
PEDEC Deputy Director for Engineering and Development Tooraj Dehghani stated that use of new technologies for boosting recovery factor as well as partnership with an Iranian firm were Iran’s preconditions for expansion of Azadegan.
“Presently, oil output in the Iranian field has reached 50 thousand barrels while the figure is expected to hit over 100 thousand barrels per day half way through the coming Iranian calendar year (to begin March 21).”
Directoe of Azadegan oil field development project went on to add that about 27 to 28 wells had been drilled in the field commenting “in order to achieve the objective of increasing production in Azadegan, drilling of 25 new wells in the joint oilfield has been put on the agenda.”
Dehghani, while stressing that the first developmental phase aims to realize a daily production of about 300 thousand barrels, noted that, in the long run, the capacity existed in the huge field to reach an output level of approximately 500 to 600 thousand barrels per day.
“The overall volume of recoverable Oil in place (OIP) in Azadegan reservoir stands at 36 to 37 billion barrels,” highlighted the official recalling that Iran would welcome formation of a consortium comprising several credible companies for Azadegan developmental project.
“Nevertheless, it is mandatory that an Iranian firm be a leg of the consortium,” he emphasized.
Meanwhile, Deputy Head of NIOC for Development and Engineering Affairs Gholamreza Manouchehri has pointed to Iran’s first international oil tender which will be invited in 2017 saying that 20-year contracts will be sealed with international companies.
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