Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 15
By Rahim Zamanov - Trend:
Iran has invested over $4.4 billion in its joint fields with Iraq to date, Iran's IRNA News Agency reported on February 15.
Developing of joint oil fields which are located at the western side of Karoun River is among Iran's oil ministry's top priorities.
Once all the mentioned oil fields come on stream over one million barrels per day will be added to the country's oil production capacity.
Over $20 billion is needed to be invested in the development projects of Iran's joint oil fields with Iraq.
The joint committee of Iran and Iraq has achieved considerable progress in negotiations over the development projects of the two countries' joint oil fields, Iraq's Oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told Iranian Fars News Agency on February 7.
Jihad went on to note that Iraq imports gas from Iran to meet its domestic demands, and to feed its power plants.
"Tehran and Baghdad have good relations in the oil and gas sector," Jihad explained.
Iran has 15 joint oilfields with its Arab neighbors. The joint oil fields' production accounts for less than 10 percent of Iran's current total oil output.
The development process of Iran's three joint oilfields with Saudi Arabia including Arash, Esfandiar, and Farzad is currently slow, the Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Company Roknoddin Javadi said, adding that Iran currently produces about 252,000 barrels of oil at its joint oil fields with neighboring counties.
The country also produces around 283 million cubic meters of gross gas at its joint [South Pars] gas field, Javadi told the Iranian Mehr News Agency on January 24.
Iran produces some 283 million cubic meters of gross gas per day at 10 phases of the gas field. Some 200 million cubic meters of the mentioned amount is transferred to the national gas network, while the rest is injected to the oil wells or is fed to the petrochemical complexes.
Qatar produces some 460 million cubic meters of gas per day mostly from South Pars (North Dome) gas field, according to BP reports. Doha converts 80 percent of the mentioned amount to LNG and exports it. Qatar also extracts some 450,000 barrels of oil from the field's oil layer, while Iran still fails to tap the oil layer.
However, the situation at the joint oil fields is even much worse than the situation in South Pars.
The total extraction volume of Iran's neighbors from the joint oil and gas fields is nine times more than Tehran's share, Majlis Research Center reported in January 2013.
Dehloran, West Paydar, Naft Shahr, Azadegan, Yadavaran, and Azar are the joint oil fields between Iran and Iraq. Iran produces 130,000 barrels of oil at the mentioned fields per day, while Iraq produces some 295,000 barrels.
Iran shares Forouzan, Farzad B, and Esfandiar with Saudi Arabia. Iran produces 42,000 barrels of oil at the fields per day, and Saudi Arabia produces some 450,000 barrels.
Iran and the United Arab Emirates also share Salman, Nosrat, and Farzam oil fields, along with two other little fields named Salam and Sater. The UAE produces some 136,000 barrels of oil at the mentioned fields, while Iran produces 56,000 barrels at the same fields.
Iran also shares two gas fields with Kuwait and Oman. Iran's output at the joint Hengam oil field currently stands at 20,000 barrels, which is approximately two times more than Oman's share.