TEHRAN, March 15 (Shana) � Drilling operations at South Azadegan oilfield are 61% complete and will sum up by September 2016, a senior official with National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) said.

Mehran Makvandi, NIDC deputy managing director in drilling projects, told Shana that NIDC is currently involved in 14 major drilling projects in onshore and offshore fields which are all expected to come on-stream within the next two years.

NIDC is drilling 40 wells at South Azadegan which are 61% complete so far and will be fully operational by September, he said.

Drilling operations at 28 of the wells were stalled due to lack of equipment, but after sanctions' removal operations are gaining momentum, Makvandi added.

NIDC has drilled over 113km of earth at South Azadegan development project.

Earlier in March, Manouchehr Asadi, NIDC's project manager, said NIDC has placed 8 drilling rigs in the region which have so far finished spudding 28 wells and are to drill another 8 wells at the field.

National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) in 2013 awarded Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC) the development project of the field which was formerly being developed by a Chinese contractor that was expelled from the field for foot-dragging.

Iranian Ministry of Petroleum has devised dozens of plans to boost crude oil production from West Karoun oilfields including Yadavaran, North Azadegan, South Azadegan, North Yaran and South Yaran which Iran shares with neighboring Iraq.

China�s CNPCI was initially in charge of South Azadegan, but Iran cancelled its contract after the Chinese company failed to fulfill its obligations.

Development of South Azadegan field requires drilling of 40 wells by NIDC, 40 wells by National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) and 20 others by a private company.

In its first phase of development, South Azadegan will be producing 32,000 b/d of oil and 197 mcf/d of gas. In the second phase, oil production will rise to 600,000 b/d.

By SHANA