Page 10 - MEOG Week 32

MEOG ProJeCts & ComPanIes
MEOG
NIOC struggles to increase recovery from Azadegan
Iran
THE National Iranian oil Co. (NIoC) this week said that the recovery rate at the Azadegan oil- eld was signi cantly lower than in other areas.
Karim Zobeidi, NIoC’s director of consoli- dated planning, told o cial oil industry media outlet Shana that the initial recovery rate on the Sarvak layer of the South Azadegan was 5.1%, and 4.5% in North Azadegan. He added that the layer covered almost 90% of Azadegan’s total in-place reserves, which amount to roughly 45bn barrels. The field is comprised of the Sarvak, Kazhdomi, Godvan and Fahilan layers.
Zobeidi said that the primary and secondary recovery rates of the Sarvak layer in the Ahwaz district were 10% and 2.5% respectively, noting that these are around half the rates achieved at the Aghajari and Gachsaran elds.
He also bemoaned the lack of investment in the eld, which he said was the reason for the slow progress in its development. Middle East Oil & Gas (MEOG) understands that the orig- inal plans for South Azadegan envisaged total output of around 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) at a total cost of $5.5bn, but these gures have been slashed as Iran struggles to attract investors
and oil companies amid US e orts to su ocate the industry.
e issue of low recovery rates is not exclu- sive to Azadegan. e North and South assets are key elds in the West Karoun oil eld cluster, which also includes North Yaran, South Yaran and Yadavaran.
Together, the group are estimated to contain at least 67bn barrels of oil in place (oIP), but the average recovery rate across West Karoun is just 5-6%.
Zobeidi said that the average crude recovery rate across Iranian elds was 24%, compared with a global rate of 35%.
Under the operatorship of the Petroleum Engineering and Development Co. (PEDEC), South Azadegan is currently producing 110,000 bpd, which will be expanded to 320,000 bpd once infrastructure improvements are complete.
In May, the National Iranian Drilling Co. (NIDC) said that it had begun drilling 10 new wells at South Azadegan. MEOG understands that another 25 wells are also scheduled to be drilled, with this programme seen adding 40,000-50,000 bpd to output.™
NIOC’s plan for Azadegan Phase 1
Source: NIOC
P10
w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 32
13•August•2019