BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 9. Iran's oil and gas sector has signed contracts worth an average of $6.5 billion a year during the 2.5-year term of the current government (the current Iranian government has been in power since August 2021), Iran's Deputy Oil Minister and Executive Director of the National Oil Company of Iran Mohsun Khojastmehr told reporters, Trend reports.
He made the statement during the 23rd International Exhibition of Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemicals in Tehran.
According to him, this is four times more than the value of contracts signed in the oil and gas sector under the previous government (from August 2017 through August 2021). Thus, the value of contracts signed under the previous government amounted to $1.6 billion annually.
Khojastmehr noted that $15 billion worth of contracts have been signed in the country's oil and gas sector in the past 2.5 years. Iran signed a contract worth $14 billion in the country's oil and gas sector last Iranian year (from March 21, 2023, through March 19, 2024), of which $12.5 billion belonged to the country's two oil fields.
"The contract for the development of Iran's Azadegan joint oil field with Iraq (Majnoon in Iraq) worth $11.5 billion has been signed. These contracts were signed with the National Oil Company of Iran, six banks, and two exploration companies in the country. Additionally, Iran and Iraq signed a $1 billion agreement for the development of the joint oil field Azer (Badra in Iraq).
Meanwhile, the 4-day 23rd International Exhibition of Oil, Gas, Refining, and Petrochemicals kicked off in Tehran on May 8. The exhibition is attended by 1,700 local companies and 250 foreign companies.
Additionally, it should be noted that the Azadegan oilfield, located in an area of 1,500 square kilometers in Iran, contains about 32 billion barrels of crude oil. Azadegan oil field on the Iranian side is divided into southern and northern parts. Iran plans to use this field to produce 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Furthermore, the Azer oil field is one of Iran's and Iraq's
joint oil fields. The Azer oil field boasts oil reserves of 2.5
billion barrels, with an estimated production of 400 million
barrels.
To note, Iran's total hydrocarbon reserves amount to 1.2 trillion
barrels. Iran can produce 340 billion barrels of this gas with
existing technological equipment. Iran can use about 30 percent of
it, while 70 percent remains unused underground.