Page 6 - MEOG Week 45

MEOG Commentary MEOG
Iran announces
discovery of
major new oilfield
Tehran has announced the discovery of Namavaran, a 20bn-plus barrel oil deposit in the south-west of the country, though while the find is impressive, it is unlikely to do much to help Iran’s struggling economy in the short-term.
iran
What:
Iran’s discovery of the 22bn barrel Namavaran oil asset follows the recent Eram gas find, which is thought to hold 538bn cubic metres.
Why:
Tehran is keen to save face for its upstream sector, which has been undermined by a lack of foreign involvement, with Iranian firms mandated to carry out domestic E&P in the absence of international players.
What next:
While both discoveries make sizeable contributions to Iran’s already world-class reserve totals, neither are likely to come on-stream soon.
IRANIAN President Hassan Rouhani has announced the discovery of a new oilfield called Namavaran in the southern Khuzestan Prov- ince, holding an estimated 22bn barrels of crude in place.
Iranian officials regularly make claims of new oil and gas fields, partly because of the lack of development in the industry owing to 40 years of the Islamic Republic and the oil indus- try being under sanctions limiting options for development.
Clarifying comments Rouhani had made on November 10, Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh said that “with a 10% oil recovery rate, the exploitable oil will be 2.2 billion barrels.” He added that the crude in place had an API gravity of more than 20, which could make it difficult to extract.
Rouhani had said the field straddled from Bostan to Omidiyeh County in Khuzestan measuring nearly 2,400 km and 80 metres in thickness.
At the weekend, the president talked of athe reservoir holding 53bn barrels of oil in place, though this included already discovered fields: Ab teymour, Darkhovin, Jofeir, Mansouri, Sepehr and Soosangerd.
The timing of the announcement if perhaps notable, coming the day after Saudi Arabian state oil firm Saudi Aramco launched the prospectus for its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO). It would be unlike tehran to allow its oil and gas sector to be outdone – a find of 22bn barrels ranks second on Iran’s all-time list of oil assets.
However, the location of Namavaran is consistent with Iran’s other key oil discoveries, neighbouring the oil-rich West Karoun region. North and South Azadegan are key fields in the West Karoun oilfield cluster, which also includes North Yaran, South Yaran, and Yadavaran.
together, the group are estimated to con- tain at least 67bn barrels of oil in place, but the average recovery rate across West Karoun is just
5-6%, suggesting that Zangeneh’s 10% figure could be optimistic.
Output at Yadavaran is now around 120,000 bpd. The second phase entails the drilling of 105 wells to achieve 180,000 bpd, with Phase 3 tar- geting output of 300,000 bpd.
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.
The region is located near the border with Iraq, with the Azadegan reservoir being tapped from both sides. It is known on the Iraqi side as Majnoon (Insane), owing to its large size.
Gas find
In October, NIOC announced that it had discov- ered a new gas field north of Assaluyeh in the southern region of Fars.
the newly discovered gas deposit, which has been estimated to hold 19 trillion cubic feet (538bn cubic metres) of gas in place and 385mn barrels of condensate, has been named Eram.
Further details were not disclosed in the first announcement, though Reza Dehghan, NIOC’s director of development and engineering affairs, told official energy sector media outlet Shana that drilling had begun in 2018 and took nine months to complete, with gas discovered at a depth of 4,632 metres.
Seismic studies and other preparatory explo- ration activities began several years ago accord- ing to NIOC.
Dehghan added that around 13 tcf (368 bcm) of gas was deemed to be recoverable and that the Eram reservoir is around 400 metres thick.
He said that the field’s development would begin in 2021 or 2022, noting that output from Eram would be directed towards domestic con- sumption as well as for reinjection to prevent loss of pressure.
P6
w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 45 13•November•2019