Iran has plans to increase its oil output by taking advantage of modern geomechanical technologies available in the country to boost recovery factor of its hydrocarbon reservoirs.

Addressing the first national conference on the application of geomechanics at the Research Institute of Petroleum Industry on Tuesday, Mohammad Reza Moqaddam, deputy petroleum minister for research and technology, said the use of geomechanics will help commercialize noncommercial oil industry activities.

Adding that Western countries have been able during recent years to make some of noncommercial activities profitable by using geomechanics, the official said this modern field of science can have a profound effect on global energy market.

Moqaddam stated that if Iranian Ministry of Petroleum aims to increase recovery factor of hydrocarbon reservoirs, it must take serious steps in the field of geomechanics and allow universities and other knowledge-based institutions to conduct technical studies on those reservoirs.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="650"] Mohammad Reza Moqaddam, deputy petroleum minister for research and technology ©SHANA[/caption]

His remarks came after managing director of National Iranian Oil Company said last week that the country is planning to boost its crude oil production by over 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) through investing USD 20 billion in the sector.

Speaking to reporters last Thursday, Roknoddin Javadi noted that the output hike will be realized by late March 2018 through “by investing USD 20 billion in West Karoun oil fields through buyback deals.”

Managing director of NIOC further noted that the company’s goal is to reach a daily crude output of 5 million bpd by the end of the Sixth Economic Development Plan along with the daily production of one million barrels of condensate.

Iran holds the world's fourth-largest proven crude oil reserves and the second-largest natural gas reserves.

The country’s total in-place oil reserves have been estimated at more than 560 billion barrels, with about 140 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Heavy and extra-heavy varieties of crude oil account for roughly 70-100 billion barrels of the total reserves.

By Press TV