Iran mulling proposals of IOCs for developing its oil fields, blocks

Shana-- The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) announced on Wednesday that it has received the result of studies by a number of international oil companies on its oilfields and blocks and is currently weighing them.

Deputy Head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) for Engineering and Development Affairs Gholam-Reza Manouchehri told Shana that NIOC has received a considerable number of studies on Iran�s oil and gas fields by IOCs and has already started appraising their feasibility.

He said Indonesia�s national oil company, Pertamina, is one of the IOCs to submit the result of its studies on Ab Teymour and Mansouri fields to NIOC.

Manouchehri said Japan�s Inpex has also proposed to develop the South Azadegan oil field, while Danish Maersk has willingness to develop the oil layer of South Pars gas field and Ab Teymour oil field.

�Russia�s Zarubezhneft proposed to develop Aban field and Indian ONGC wants to get involved in Farzad B gas field development project,� he added.

Moreover, Austria�s OMV has proposed to develop Band Karkheh, Cheshmeh Khosh, West Paydar and Dalpari, while the Total has submitted the result of its studies over Phase 11 of the South Pars gas field to NIOC.

Because most of Indonesia�s oilfields are considered brown ones the country has had to develop certain technical savvy to pump more oil out of its aged reserves, argued Manouchehri.

Pertamina is a leading company in this field and has signaled its willingness to develop oilfields in Iran.

�Pertamina has agreed to start developing the fields based on the newly-devised model of oil contracts in Iran,� he added. The contracts stipulate that developers shall stay active in the projects for a period of 20 years.

The NIOC official further said that Pertamina has proposed a development plan which will bring Mansouri�s recovery rate from currently2.35% to up to 14% by bringing the number of its wells from currently 81 to 365 wells. All this would add 300,000 barrels/day to the field�s oil recovery from currently 65,000 b/d by the end of the contract.

Pertamina, which spent 6 months to study the projects, has also indicated it will take advantage of downhole pumps, water injection techniques and acid fracturing to enhance oil recovery from the fields, added Manouchehri.

Also regarding Ab Teymour, the official said the number of its wells will be increased to 257 from currently 51 wells.

Moreover, the total production from the field will reach 1.696 billion barrels from currently 334m barrels. Its recover rate will also increase from 2.27% to 12% with nearly 300,000 b/d of oil recovery.

�Regarding the good Tehran-Jakarta relations, NIOC will hold more talks with the Indonesian company provided that it offers an attractive proposition for developing the two fields,� he added.

Signers of MoUs more Likely to Win Deals with Iran

The senior NIOC official further said the IOC that have so far inked memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with the NIOC are more likely to win the contracts for developing the fields in Iran.