Azerbaijan, Baku, Jul.10/ Trend F.Milad/
Development plans of two oilfields, namely Yadavaran and Azadegan, have been started by Chinese companies' $20 billion investment, aimed to produce 700,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), the Shana News Agency quoted Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi as saying.
Over 20 drilling rigs have been commissioned at the two oilfields, the minister added.
The Azadegan oilfield is located close to the Iraqi border. The field holds around 33.2 billion barrels of in-situ oil deposit, of which 5.2 billion barrels are recoverable.
Iran and China signed a $1.76-billion deal in January 2009 for the initial development of the North Azadegan oilfield. The deal was signed between the China National Petroleum Corporation and the National Iranian Oil Company.
The Yadavaran oilfield is estimated to hold around 12 billion barrels of in-situ crude oil, some 12.5 trillion cubic feet of associated gases, as well as nearly 1.9 billion barrels of condensates.
Iran and the Chinese Sinopec signed a buyback contract in 2007 on the development of the Yadavaran oilfield.
Qasemi said in August 2011 that the Iranian government should consider plans for the development of joint oilfields in the border areas with Iraq.
The government should increase the budgets for the development of joint oilfields, Qasemi added. "The oil industry's infrastructure needs more than 500 trillion rials (about $41 billion) of investment to achieve objectives of the 20-Year Outlook Plan," Qasemi was quoted as saying."