Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 14
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Despite foreign companies suspending their activities in Iran, this Iranian year (started March 21, 2018) Iran has increased its crude oil production from the West Karoun oil fields (jointly run with Iraq) to 350,000 barrels per day, Touraj Dehghani, Executive Director of Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC), told IRIB, Trend reports.
According to him, this increase was by 50,000 barrels per day compared to last year.
Dehghani added that Iran annually earns $8-9 billion from the sales of oil extracted from the West Karoun fields.
"With the commissioning of some of the projects that are being developed along the way, some 400,000 barrels of oil will be extracted from these fields next year (begins March 21, 2019)," he said.
He said that projects related to the development of West Karoun oil fields were executed by Iranian companies, adding that, in case of returning back to Iran's oil industry, foreign companies and contracting companies will have to leave many operations up to Iranian contractors.
Commenting on the construction of oil storage depots at the port of Jask in Iran’s southern Hormozgan Province, Dehghani added that a contract was signed with an Iranian company for the construction of these depots and they are expected to be commissioned by 2020.
Dehghani said that the capacity of the depots will be 20 million barrels and will significantly contribute to the development of the Jask County, regarded as one of the poorest economically developed regions of the country.
According to latest research, the West Karoun oil fields, located on the Iranian-Iraqi border at the Abadan County of Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan Province, have 67 billion barrels of oil, the bulk of which consists of heavy oil.
The US announced its withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA) in May 2018, and placed sanctions against Iran in November of the same year. After the sanctions, foreign companies operating in Iran, including Total, pulled back from Iran's oil projects and left the West Karoun oil fields.