Azerbaijan , Baku, March 3 / Trend, A.Yusifzade /
Iran plans to increase oil production from Dehloran joint oil field from 23,000 barrels per day to 40,000 bpd, PANA News reported quoting the Head of the Planning Department of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Abdol Mohammad Delparish as saying.
Delparish predicted that development of all oil fields shared with neighboring countries will be finalized by the end of Iran's Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2011-2016).
"The comprehensive development project of Dehloran oil field has been approved by NIOC Head quarters recently", Delparish said.
Earlier Iranian and Iraqi oil officials have reached an agreement to develop their joint oilfields on border areas to increase their crude output.
"The two neighboring states have signed an agreement for the development of joint oil fields," Mehr news agency reported.
According to the report the deal was inked during the first meeting of the two countries' joint executive working group in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Based on the new deal, Iran and Iraq will set up joint expert committees to finalize technical and financial details of the agreement to develop the joint oilfields.
According to the report, Iran and neighboring Iraq have 23 joint oilfields on border regions.
The next round of oil talks between the two countries will be held in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, in March.
Earlier, Iran's deputy Oil Minister Alireza Zeighami said that the two neighbors had reached an agreement on preparing comprehensive plans for the development of five joint oilfields.
Iran and Iraq are members of the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC) which supplies about 40 percent of the world's oil.
The Dehloran oil field is among many other joint fields that Iran shares with Iraq. The Iranian and Iraqi oil officials have clinched some deals over the past months to develop the joint wells including Paydar, Paydar-Gharb, Naftshahr, Azar, Fakkeh and Azadegan.
In November, Iran unveiled plans to develop its joint oil and gas fields with neighboring countries even without foreign investment.
"We will not sit idly in protracted negotiations with foreign companies," said Iranian deputy Oil Minister Mohsen Khojastehmehr.
Khojastehmehr said Iran has finalized a plan for the speedy development of the joint oil and gas fields, adding that Iran will start drilling at Azar oil field with a proven 2 billion barrels of oil reserves near the Iraqi border.
National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) director of exploration Mahmoud Mohaddes said that the oil-rich country plans to explore new reserves of 500 million barrels of oil and 5 trillion cubic feet of gas per year in a five year plan.
He further pointed out that Iran has discovered 19 new oilfields and eight new gas reserves during its Fourth Five-Year Development Plan (2006-2011).
Iran is OPEC's second-largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia. The Persian Gulf country sits on the worlds second-largest gas reserves after Russia.