Page 8 - MEOG Week 34 2021

MEOG PERFORMANCE MEOG

Iranian oil production

up year on year

IRAN IRAN’S crude oil production rose 37% during across these fields they can achieve 1.2mn bpd of
the first five months of the current Iranian cal- combined output.
endar year compared to March 21-August 20 of The broader average crude recovery rate
last year. across Iranian fields is roughly 24%, against a
State-run media quoted secondary OPEC global rate of around 35%.
data sources showing that output had risen from Azadegan, which is home to around 32bn
1.9mn barrels per day to 2.5mn bpd. barrels of OIP across the Sarvak, Kazhdomi,
The figure marks a sizeable rebound follow- Godvan and Fahilan layers, is Iran’s largest oil-
ing a major fall-off since 2017, when production field. The giant reservoir is shared with Iraq,
ran at 3.9mn bpd, dropping to 3.5mn bpd in where it is known Majnoon (Insane) on account
2018, 2.4mn bpd in 2019 and 2mn bpd in 2020 of its size.
in the wake of the US’s withdrawal from the Joint Despite its great potential and more than 170
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). wells having already been drilled on the south-
The National Iranian Oil Co.’s (NIOC) output ern site alone, recovery factors across the asset
increase has been partially facilitated by recent have slowed progress, with primary recovery on
work to raise capacity at the West Karoun oil- the Sarvak layer, which covers around 90% of the
field cluster, which comprises 11 fields including field’s reserves, just 5.1% in the south and 4.5% in
North and South Azadegan, North and South the north, according to NIOC.
Yaran and Yadavaran. Secondary recovery rates are around 10% and
Together, the group are estimated to contain 2.5% respectively.
at least 67bn barrels of oil in place (OIP), but the Research carried out by the University of
average recovery rate across West Karoun is just Tehran’s Institute of Petroleum Engineering in
5-6% with combined production from the fields 2019 suggests that recovery rates from Azade-
currently running at 420,000 bpd. gan could be raised by up to 10% through water
Output has risen from just 70,000 bpd in 2013 injection, gas injection and a combination of the
and Tehran believes that by increasing recovery two.™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 34 25•August•2021