Page 71 - IRANRptJun22

NIDC kicks off South Azadegan drilling campaign
Iran looks to increase petchem feedstock capacity
“The venture includes the installation of new units, including hydrogen processing, hydrocracking, liquefied petroleum gas [LPG], crude distillation and other utilities to replace old units built 70 years ago,” he said.
The National Iranian Drilling Co. (NIDC) announced last month that it has started a 10-well campaign at the supergiant South Azadegan oilfield in the south of the country.
The programme includes the drilling and completion of wells under a subcontract from Petroleum Engineering and Development Co. (PEDEC), a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) which was awarded a $1.26bn contract alongside Petropars in 2020 for the first development phase at South Azadegan. This comprised the drilling of 35 wells, installing 50 downhole ESP pumps and completing eight manifolds.
10 of these wells were contracted to NIDC, with Petropars awarding the final 25 wells to Dana Energy and Tadbir Drilling Development Co. NIDC chairman Hamidreza Golpayegani said this week that the Fath 28 and Fath 92 rigs had been allocated for the project.
Home to around 32bn barrels of oil in place (OIP) across the Sarvak, Kazhdomi, Godvan and Fahilan layers, Azadegan is Iran’s largest oilfield and is split into two development projects – South Azadegan and North Azadegan. The giant reservoir is shared with Iraq, where it is known Majnoon (Insane) on account of its size.
Despite its great potential and more than 170 wells having already been drilled on the southern site alone, recovery factors across the asset have slowed progress with primary recovery on the Sarvak layer, which covers around 90% of the field’s reserves, just 5.1% in the south and 4.5% in the north, according to NIOC. Secondary recovery rates are around 10% and 2.5% respectively. The field’s development project is seen producing 320,000 bpd in the first phase by the end of the next Iranian calendar year. The second phase is seen adding another 280,000 bpd.
Broader investment
Capacity expansion at Azadegan is part of a broader investment by NIOC in the development of the West Karoun oilfield cluster which also includes the North & South Yaran, Yadavaran and Darkhoein fields. Production from the region is currently running at around 420,000 barrels per day (bpd).
NIOC CEO Mohsen Khojasteh Mehr said this week that South Azadegan phase 2 would be carried out by a consortium of companies, while noting that $8bn worth of projects have been identified under wider investment plans for West Karoun.
Iran’s state petrochemical firm said last month that it intends to more than double the country’s supply of feedstock for petrochemical projects by the end of the decade.
Speaking to the official Shana energy sector media outlet, Morteza Shahmirzaei, CEO of the National Petrochemical Co. (NPC), said that the feedstock level would increase from the current 1.1mn barrels per day to 2.6mn bpd by 2030, alongside a major expansion of petrochemical production capacity.
At present, the Islamic Republic’s petchem industry has a production capacity of around 90mn tonnes per year, he said, which NPC ambitiously anticipates rising to 200mn tpy by 2030.
The official’s comments align with figures provided by Oil Minister Javad Owji, who said in December that petrochemical capacity would reach 130mn tpy by
71 IRAN Country Report June 2022 www.intellinews.com