Azerbaijan, Baku, Apr. 16/ Trend F.Milad/
The National Iranian South Oilfields Company signed 345 contracts with domestic firms in the past calendar year which ended on March 19, in line with supporting the national production sector, Shana news agency quoted an official with the company as saying.
The contracts worth some 77 trillion rials plus 96 million euros, increased by 41 per cent in value compared to the year before, Hassan Golestan Bagh said.
Oil Minister Rostam 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 also increase its 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 the objectives of the 20-Year Outlook Plan, which ends in 2025, Qasemi was quoted as saying.
Iran has attached priority to boosting gas production capacity from its joint oilfields with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Qasemi noted.
The country sits on the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia and is trying to grow its gas production by increasing foreign and domestic investments, especially in its South Pars gas field.
The field is shared by Iran and Qatar. The Iranian share, which is divided into 29 phases, has about 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, or about eight per cent of the total world reserves and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas resources.