Page 9 - MEOG Week 06 2021
P. 9
MEOG PERFORMANCE MEOG
NIDC keeps drilling as Iran
seeks developer for Ab Teymour
IRAN IRAN has continued to lead from the front as the Ab Teymour up for grabs
world’s most prolific driller, with the National Through its official Shana media network, Iran’s
Iranian Drilling Co. (NIDC) reporting that it Ministry of Petroleum (MoP) last week sought to
had drilled and completed 117 oil and gas wells stir investor interest in the super-giant Ab Tey-
in the 10 months to January 19. mour oilfield, located in the southern Khuzestan
The company’s managing director Abdollah Province.
Mousavi said that drilling during the current Ira- Home to an estimated 15.2bn barrels of oil
nian calendar year, which runs from March 20, in place (OIP), Ab Teymour currently produces
2020 to March 20, 2021, NIDC drilled 27 devel- around 60,000 barrels per day (bpd), though by
opment wells, one appraisal well, 85 workover Shana’s own admission, the field’s recovery rate
wells and four exploratory wells. has suffered because of a lack of investment and
He added that 18 of the wells had been drilled is currently around just 2.3%.
326 days earlier than schedule, with 30 wells The field is currently run by NIOC subsid-
drilled between December 19 and January 19. iary National Iranian South Oil Co. (NISOC),
In a January update, Mousavi said that NIDC with operations overseen by another subsidiary,
was conducting drilling activities across 10 Ira- Karoun Oil and Gas Production Co. (KOGPC),
nian provinces. which anticipates raising production to 95,000
The latest news suggests that Iran is on course bpd.
to have increased its already impressive drilling In 2018, Ab Teymour was included in a broad
levels, with NIDC having drilled over 240 oil framework agreement between Moscow and
and gas wells across the country over the past Tehran for Russian firms to develop at least eight
two years combined. The company accounts for major oil and gas fields, with Lukoil holding the
a significant part of Iran’s overall drilling capabil- remit before the deal fell apart.
ities, with 70 onshore and offshore drilling rigs. Prior to this, the MoP had provided data for
In October, the company announced it had the field to several IOCs, with proposed field
agreed deals for the rental of 16 drilling rigs to development plans (FDPs) submitted by Indo-
five domestic companies. nesia’s Pertamina, Denmark’s Maersk Oil (now
Parent firm National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) owned by France’s Total) and Lukoil.
signed agreements with Global Petrotech Kish Lukoil’s FDP envisaged production from Ab
Co., Petro Iran Development Co., Pasargad Teymour reaching 150,000 bpd, and Pertam-
Energy Development Co., Qeshm Oil and ina 250,000 bpd, while Maersk provided three
Energy Industries, and Petrotenco Co., all of different scenarios for output of 200,000 bpd,
which were recently awarded contracts to carry 300,000 bpd and 450,000 bpd, with the latter
out work on oil and gas fields in the country. plateauing at this level for at least 40 years, which
Reza Dehqan, NIOC’s deputy director for would increase the recovery rate to 12%.
development and engineering affairs, said that Seismic surveying around Ab Teymour has
the rigs would be used to drill wells at the Zilaei, also resulted in the discovery of a new reservoir
Mansourabad, Siahmakan, Ahvaz (phases one structure which is believed to hold an additional
and four) and Maroun (phases five and 12). 2bn barrels of OIP.
Week 06 10•February•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9
