Page 9 - MEOG Week 02 2021

MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG

Iran finalises deals with local firms

IRAN IRAN’S Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh 1958, holding 63bn barrels of oil in place and is
this week oversaw the signing of eight deals operated by NIOC subsidiary Karoun Oil and
between the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) Gas Production Co. (KOGPC).
and local companies to maintain and increase A consortium of the National Iranian Drill-
production levels for seven southern oilfields ing Co. (NIDC) and Jahanpars Engineering &
and one offshore asset. Construction Co. was a repeat winner, adding a
As reported by Middle East Oil & Gas job on the Lali Bangestan field to the contract for
(MEOG) last week, the $1.2bn worth of deals the Balaroud oilfield they won in August.
cover the offshore Reshadat oilfield as well as Khatam-al Anbiya Construction Headquar-
others located in the Bushehr, Fars, Khuzestan, ters (KAA), the engineering arm of the hard-line
Kohgiluyeh-Boyer Ahmad and Hormozgan Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),
provinces. was awarded by far the largest contract covering
Deals were signed on behalf of NIOC by work on the second, third and fifth phases of
subsidiaries National Iranian South Oil Co. Ahvaz as well as the offshore Reshadat.
(NISOC) and Iranian Offshore Oil Co. (IOOC) Meanwhile, Mashin Sazi Arak in which KAA
and follow a larger raft of 13 contracts awarded is known to hold shares was awarded a deal for
in August last year worth an estimated $1.78bn the Bibi Hakimeh oilfield which has around
targeting a production increase of 185,000 bar- 500mn barrels of oil remaining.
rels per day. While these contract awards to local compa-
The announcement comes as part of a nation- nies should come as little surprise to Iran watch-
wide effort to increase production by 355,000 ers given Tehran propensity for pushing forward
bpd at a total of 33 fields. Under this umbrella with the development of domestic assets without
initiative a total of 22 engineering, procurement the help of foreign firms prohibited from enter-
and construction (EPC) firms have agreed deals ing the Iranian market by US-led sanctions, they
for the 33 assets with two yet to be signed. are perhaps more noteworthy because of the
Some of the same companies picked up clear expanding influence of the KAA.
contracts in both sets of awards, with the latest While the group holds interests in various
round of contracts focusing mainly on smaller assets such as the supergiant South Pars gas field
assets than those handed out in August. and Marun oilfield through its reported 812 affil-
A contract for the Golkhari oilfield was iates and subsidiaries including the high profile
awarded to North Drilling Co. (Sina Energy Gos- MAPNA Group, Oil Industries Engineering
tar Holding), which is owned by the Bonyad-e and Construction (OIEC), Iran Marine Indus-
Mostazafan Foundation, a religious endowment trial Co. (SADRA), Persia Oil and Gas Industry
for war veterans and the poor. Both fall under the Development Co. (POGIDC), Tadbir Energy
Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO). Development Co. and Mashin Sazi, this week’s
A deal for the third and fourth phases of the contract award appears to be the first directly
1.1bn barrel Gachsaran oilfield was agreed with awarded to KAAC for several years.
the Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construc- Tehran has been outspoken in its efforts to
tion Co. (IOEC) which previously picked up a encourage the incoming administration of Joe
job on the third phase of the Maroun oilfield. Biden in the US to remove sanctions, however,
Meanwhile, PetroIran Development Co. even if strictures are lifted, the KAA’s wide and
(PEDCO) was awarded work on the Binak oil- complex web of operations is likely to make it
field, following the August award of a job on the difficult for IOCs to work on many of Iran’s most
3.7bn barrel Mansourabad oilfield. attractive oil and gas assets. KAA has been on
Work on the Solabdar field was apportioned the US Department of Treasury’s Office of For-
to a consortium of Qeshm Oil and Energy Indus- eign Assets Control’s (OFAC) list of Specially
tries and Maroun Karan, which also jointly won Designated Nationals (SDN) since 2007 for
a contract for projects 1 and 4 at the supergiant helping “the IRGC generate income and fund its
Ahvaz field in August. Ahvaz was discovered in operations”.™

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