MNA � The National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC), will complete the projects on drilling 23 wells in the giant South Azadegan Oilfield near the Iraqi border by the end of the current calendar year (March 20, 2020).

Jahangir Shojaei, the caretaker of the projects, said that despite the problems caused by recent flash floods in oil-rich areas and halting several drilling rigs in the field, efforts are being made to complete the project at the planned time.

So far, over 75,000 meters have been drilled in the project and 19 wells have been completed and are being readied for oil production by the Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC) which is the operator of the field, he said.

Drilling operations in the project began back in 2016.

South Azadegan is estimated to hold 33 billion barrels of oil in place. It is part of the West Karoun oil block in Khuzestan, which holds 67 billion barrels of oil.

Iran shares oil and gas reservoirs with neighboring countries, including several oil deposits with Iraq that shares a 1,400km border with Iran to the west.