Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 19
By Emil Ilgar – Trend:
Iran needs $100 billion of investment for upstream oil projects by 2021, of which 80 percent are planned to be provided through foreign funds, Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Company Ali Kardor said.
He added that in case Iran can’t absorb the needed investment, the country’s oil and gas output will decrease significantly in five years, Mehr reported Sept. 19.
Iran’s government introduced a new designed oil contract, called Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC), last December, offering 49 oil and gas projects to foreigners. However, Iran hasn’t been able to sign any agreement as of now due to opposition from Iranian hardliners. The Iranian government has amended 150 terms of the IPC, but the opposition still continues.
On the other hand, 80 percent of Iran’s active oil fields are in their second half life and lose 8-12 percent of their productivity each year. Iran should re-inject 280 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) of gas to these fields to maintain oil production level, but currently re-cycles only 72 mcm/d due to gas shortage.
Kardor was also reported to say that Iran’s South Pars gas field, which shares a half of the country’s both production and reserves, will face a pressure fall by 2023 and the production level will decline “significantly”.
Iran produces 735 million cubic meters of raw gas and 3.7 million barrels of crude oil per day.