Page 5 - MEOG Week 33

MEOG COMMENTARY MEOG

Oil and gas fields in
southern Iran

Production Co. (MSOGPC). anytime needed, we enter the market with full
Meanwhile, Qeshm Oil and Energy Indus- force and revive our share.”
tries and Maroun Karan were jointly awarded He added that contracts for all of Iran’s shared
a contract for projects 1 and 4 at the supergiant border oil and gas fields would be formalised by
Ahvaz field. Ahvaz was discovered in 1958, hold- the end of Hassan Rouhani’s presidential term
ing 63bn barrels of oil in place (OIP) and is oper- in mid-2021. “I don’t say their development will
ated by NIOC subsidiary Karoun Oil and Gas [be] complete but all the fields will be decided
Production Co. (KOGPC). under real contracts with capable companies,”
he added.
Offshore Zanganeh repeated his message this week,
The two offshore were signed by NIOC subsidi- speaking at the signing of the new wave of deals.
ary Iranian Offshore Oil Co. (IOOC). He said: “These projects bear a message right
For Resalat, a joint deal was agreed with now that we work under the sanctions … some
IOEC and EPC contractor Intelligent Solutions. would ask me whether it’s necessary to create
The field was discovered in 1969, 90 km south of production capacity while you have surplus
Lavan island in the Persian Gulf, with produc- capacity and you cannot use the capacity fully
tion beginning in 1972 and ramping up quickly under the sanctions.”
to around 45,000 bpd. He added: “The sanctions are temporary …
A deal for Forouzan was signed with Pet- the power of a country in the oil market doesn’t
ropars and Mobin Sazeh Gostar (ISOICO). The come from its reservoirs, rather from its produc-
field was discovered in 1966 and began produc- tion capacity.”
ing from its 850-900mn barrel resource in 1974. Zanganeh noted: “When some day the sanc-
The asset is located 100 km south-east of Kharg tions are lifted, would we want to start repairing
Island. According to Petropars, the project will our wells, build new wells which will take two,
be carried out on an EPC-EPD basis and covers three years? In this two, three years, all our share
the drilling of 12 new wells, 11 well repairs and is gone. Like the last time, our production should
3 re-entry wells on the subsurface as well as the reach the previous level within less than three
installation of three pipelines, the fabrication months to gain our share back.”
and erection of two new platforms and provision Speaking to Middle East Oil & Gas (MEOG),
of fibre-optic cabling. Ian Simm, principal advisor at IGM Energy, said:
Contrary to Dehghan’s contract value “Tehran has awarded development contracts for
announcement, Petropars reported that the deal some of its most prized assets to local companies.
was worth $344mn. While this renewed emphasis on field develop-
ment can be viewed positively, it is additional
Output drive expertise rather than new contract terms that
The contract awards follow recent statements is required to improve performance from these
from Tehran that moves were afoot to ramp up fields, many of which suffer from low recovery
production by the end of the current Iranian cal- rates.”
endar year in late March 2021. Simm added: “That being said, as we have
In July, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh was seen at its shared border fields, Iran cannot
quoted by Shana as saying: “It is true that our afford to watch on while Iraq and Qatar produce
oil production has now decreased because of from these assets, as their doing so is linked to
the unfair sanctions. But it will not remain like the further depletion of recovery rates on the
this forever. We should increase capacity so that Iranian side.”™

Week 33 19•August•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P5