Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 14
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iranian Central Oil Fields Company (ICOFC) will boost its crude oil and natural gas production in the next Iranian fiscal year, which starts on March 21.
The company will increase oil output by 75 million barrels and gas output by 95 billion cubic meters in the next year, Iran's Shana news agency reported on March 14.
The company plans to drill 22 new oil and gas wells and restore 10 other wells to attain the goal.
Iran's central areas are highly rich in oil and gas resources. Official statistics say that there are 45 gas, 24 oil, and 2 oil-and-gas fields in these areas, holding 8.5 billion barrels of oil and 18 trillion cubic meters of gas.
Ten years ago, it was estimated that the country would produce 500 mcm/d of gas and 500 thousand bbl/d of crude oil out of these areas by now.
However, Iranian Central Oil Fields Co. CEO Salbali Karimi has said that in the company's new plan, it is estimated that production will rise to 400 mcm/d for gas and 400 thousand bbl/d for oil.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of National Iranian Gas Company Hamidreza Araqi said Iran's gas output will be doubled in the next three years.
He said that the country's total gas production will reach 330 billion cubic meters in the Iranian calendar year of 1396 (to start on March 21, 2018).
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangneh said on Nov. 21 that some 44 billion cubic meters of gas will be added to the country's total output in the next Iranian calendar year (to start March 21, 2015).
The Islamic Republic's average crude oil exports have fallen to 1.9 million barrels per day in fiscal year of 1391(March 2012-March 2013) from 2.107 million barrels per day in preceding year or a decline by 10 percent, as a result of international sanctions, according to the latest report of the Central Bank of Iran released on Jan. 17.
A series of international sanctions targeting Iran's oil sector have led foreign companies to cancel a number of new projects and upgrades of existing projects.