Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.18
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iranian oil minister Baijan Namdar Zanganeh has emphasized the need to speed up the development of Yadavaran oilfield, which is associated with Iraq, IRNA reported on January 18.
Iran has completed the drilling operation of 23 wells in the Yadavaran oil field.
"The drilling operation of the mentioned wells had started in the winter of the Iranian calendar year 1389 (2011)," the IRIB News Agency reported in September 2013.
A total number of 55 wells will be drilled in the first phase of the oilfield development plan.
The oilfield is currently producing 25,000 bpd of crude oil. Its output is projected to reach 300,000 bpd in three phases.
Early production started in February 2012 from the oilfield.
The 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.
Iran shares oil and gas fields with most of its neighbors, including Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar as well as Oman and Turkmenistan.
Based on studies, there are 23 joint hydrocarbon fields between Iran and Iraq which are divided into exploration, development and production categories.
The country's total in-place oil reserves have been estimated at more than 560 billion barrels, with about 140 billion barrels of extractable oil. Moreover, heavy and extra heavy varieties of crude oil account for roughly 70-100 billion barrels of the total reserves.