Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5
By Dalga Khatinoglu – Trend:
Iran plans to sign 10 oil and gas contracts with foreigners during the current fiscal year, (started on March 21) based on newly designed oil contract model, called Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC).
Iran introduced 49 oil and gas fields, based on IPC, to foreigners in November 2015. The projects are worth about $100 billion and the first tender on them is expected to be issued in coming weeks.
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh announced the highlights of his ministry’s priorities for the current year and 5-year perspective.
According to a report, released on Oil Ministry’s official website on June 5, Iran plans to increase the oil production from the West Karoon block to 350,000 barrels per day by March 2018. The total production capacity is to reach 4 mb/d.
Iran currently produces 3.8 mb/d of crude oil, based on OPEC oil cut deal, but the nominal production capacity is about 3.95 mb/d, according to Iranian officials.
Earlier, CEO of National Iranian Oil Company Ali Kardor said that Iran’s oil production from old fields would decrease by 300,000 b/d, but the output from new fields would increase by 350,000 b/d during the current fiscal year.
About 80 percent of Iran’s active oil fields are in their second half-life and lose 8-12 percent of their productivity annually.
The new announcement says the oil production level would reach 4.7 mb/d in five years, while the gas condensate production would reach 683,000 b/d by March 2018 and 1 mb/d by March 2022.
Iran also plans to increase gas output from South Pars to 620 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) during the current fiscal year by commencing phases 13, 14, 22-24 of South Pars.
Currently, the output capacity of this field is about 520-530 mcm/d. Iran’s total gas production capacity is about 780 mcm/d and is to reach about 790 mcm/d by March 2018. Iran plans to increase gross gas output to 1.2 bcm/d by March 2022.