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Iran requires 500 new wells annually to hit oil production target

Business Materials 3 March 2015 15:00 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 3

By Fatih Karimov - Trend:

Iran requires drilling 500 new wells annually to hit oil production target of 4.7 million barrels per day.

Roknoddin Javadi, managing director of National Iranian Oil Company, said that the country's oil production capacity is currently about 4 million barrels per day, but the real production is much lower due to the international sanctions, Iran's Shana news agency reported on March 3.

He added that around 150 offshore and onshore drilling rigs are operating in the country. Some $4 billion is spent annually on drilling oil and gas wells in Iran, he added.

The sixth five-year national development plan (2015-2020) has envisaged that the country's oil and gas output to hit 4.7 million barrels per day and one billion cubic meters per day, respectively, he said.

Currently, 50 percent of oil and gas wells in Iran are drilled by the private sector, he said, adding that before the 1979 Islamic revolution, 100 percent of wells were drilled by foreign companies.

He also said that drilling wells at deep waters of the Caspian Sea of the Sea of Oman will be certainly conducted in the coming years.

Iran, with 157 billion barrels, holds the world's fourth-largest proved crude oil reserves and the world's second-largest natural gas reserves (33.78 trillion cubic meters).

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that Iran's crude oil output, including condensates and natural gas liquids (NGL) stood at 3.236 million barrels per day (mbpd) during the eleven months of 2014.

The figure indicates an increase by 128,000 bpd compared to the same period of 2013, making Iran third crude producer among the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), EIA said in its Monthly Energy Review report published Feb.24.

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