Page 12 - FSUOGM Week 20 2022

FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM

Iran courts Russian firms

for field development

IRAN THE head of the National Iranian Oil Co. bpd in early 2004 and has achieved 100,000 bpd
(NIOC) said this week that Russian companies at various points since 2007.
Lukoil has signalled would “soon” begin work on developing two Ira- NIOC anticipates a healthy recovery rate of
interest in returning to nian oilfields. around 45%, although there is less data available
the Mansouri fields. Speaking on the sidelines of the Iran Oil on the Ab Teymour field, which remains largely
Show in Tehran, NIOC managing director undeveloped, NIOC estimates are that it holds
Mohsen Khojastehmehr offered little more than around 2bn barrels of reserves with more than
that “executive operations […] will begin soon”, 15.2bn barrels in place.
declining to disclose the identity of either the Ab Teymour currently produces around
companies or the fields in question. 60,000 bpd, though the field’s recovery rate has
However, Middle East Oil & Gas (MEOG) suffered because of a lack of investment and is
understands that background talks remain currently around just 2.3%. The field is currently
ongoing between Iranian officials and Lukoil run by NIOC subsidiary National Iranian South
for the development of the Ab Teymour and Oil Co. (NISOC), with operations overseen by
Mansouri fields, which were included in a broad another subsidiary, Karoun Oil and Gas Produc-
framework agreement between Moscow and tion Co. (KOGPC), which anticipates increasing
Tehran for Russian firms to develop at least eight output to 95,000 bpd.
major oil and gas assets before the deal fell apart Prior to the collapse of the JCPOA, Iran’s
when the US re-imposed sanctions in 2018. Ministry of Petroleum (MoP) had provided data
The company signed a memorandum of for the field to several IOCs, with proposed field
understanding (MoU) with NIOC in 2016 for development plans (FDPs) having been submit-
studies of the Ab Teymour and Mansouri fields. ted by Indonesia’s Pertamina, Denmark’s Maersk
In June last year, then-Lukoil CEO Vagit Ale- Oil (now owned by France’s TotalEnergies) and
kperov said the company hoped to return to the Lukoil.
development of Mansouri. “We have advanced Lukoil’s FDP envisaged production from Ab
quite far there, almost all documents on the Teymour reaching 150,000 bpd and Pertamina
Mansouri field are ready. As soon as all these 250,000 bpd, while Maersk provided three dif-
restrictions are lifted, we will be happy to resume ferent scenarios for each 200,000 bpd, 300,000
both the negotiation process and practical work bpd and 450,000 bpd, with the latter plateauing
on the project,” he said. at this level for at least 40 years, which would
Alekperov added that the terms of the Iran increase the recovery rate to 12%.
Petroleum Contract (IPC) contract proposed by Seismic surveying around Ab Teymour has
the Iranian side suited Lukoil but added that his also resulted in the discovery of a new reservoir
company was yet to consider other projects in structure which is believed to hold an additional
the country. Discussions on the projects were put 2bn barrels of OIP.
on hold after the US pulled out of the Joint Com- At the time of the MoU signing, MEOG
prehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and reim- quoted a senior oil and gas industry source in
posed sanctions on the country’s oil industry. Tehran as saying: “The trade-off for Lukoil is that
The Mansouri field, in the southern Khuz- it gets an open goal with Mansouri in exchange
estan province, has an estimated 3.1bn barrels of for having to put a bit more effort into Ab Tey-
oil in place (OIP). According to NIOC, by 2015 mour, but with the prospect of a huge pay-out
the project to develop Mansouri was around 99% down the line, as per the terms of the contract.”
complete, with new production and desalting He added: “The preliminary contract that has
units almost finished. been signed will be the IPC model [and] stipu-
The Phase 1 production target was set at lates that the take for Lukoil from [Ab Teymour]
100,000 barrels per day, with the second phase will be around 30% higher than is being offered
adding a further 150,000 bpd. Production from as the standard for oil and gas fields that have
the Asmari layer alone averaged around 60,000 been partially developed already.” ™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 20 18•May•2022