Tehran, July 21, IRNA - Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC) welcomes foreign investment in the development project of South Azadegan oilfield.Abdolreza Haji-Hossein-Nejad, the PEDEC managing director, said the company intends to develop the oilfield using its own capital, Shana reported.
He put the preliminary approved budget for implementing the field?s development project at $500 million and 500 billion rials ($15.62 million).
PEDEC?s chief said the company aims to extract 320,000 barrels of crude oil from the field in the first phase.
He added, To this end, 12 wells have been already drilled, but 173 more are needed.
Currently, National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) is responsible for carrying out the drilling operations, said the official adding 10 drilling rigs are to be installed in the coming days.
Earlier, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh canceled a $2.5-billion deal with China National Petroleum Corporation International and transferred the development of South Azadegan oilfield to a consortium of domestic companies after the Chinese company failed to fulfill its commitments and was lagging behind the schedule.
Hossein-Nejad said NIDC is to drill 50 wells in the first phase of the field?s development project.
?PEDEC is holding a tender on the drilling of 40 other wells.?
A major portion of the equipment can be produced domestically, he said.
?The first phase has progressed by 67 percent. Despite the 2-year hiatus, we hope the first phase will begin production in the next Iranian year (to start March 21, 2015).
The launch of the first phase will increase the countrys crude production by 75,000 bpd.
Jointly shared by Iraq, South Azadegan oilfield is located 80 kilometers west of Ahvaz.
Iranian authorities say the field has an in-place oil reserve of about 33.2 billion barrels and recoverable resources estimated at about 5.2 billion barrels. It is among NIOCs recent discoveries. It is the biggest oilfield found in Iran in the last 30 years.
Sarvak, Kazhdomi, Godvan, and Fahilan are productive layers of the field. The field?s current production is 40,000 bpd.
The field has an approximate area of 900 square kilometers.
By IRNA
The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.
