Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) announced that the country is preparing to increase its production from an oilfield that is shared with Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf.

The company said on Tuesday that it was installing jackets of a drilling rig at the Forouzan oilfield to prepare it for extraction of oil until March.

The IOOC noted two jackets will be installed on the F19 platform of the Forouzan oilfield, adding that the expansion project in the field will cover 11 new wells.

The announcement came as the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company, of which the IOOC is a subsidiary, said on Tuesday that Iran and Saudi Arabia were preparing to engage in joint oil and gas projects.

Mohsen Khojasteh Mehr said that there will be some good news in the near future about joint oil production from the Forouzan oilfield.

Khojasteh Mehr said the restoration of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia had allowed the two countries to cooperate on�oil and gas projects.

Forouzan oilfield is located some 100 kilometers southwest of Iran�s Kharg Island on the maritime border between Iran and Saudi Arabia and is part of a larger reserve called Marjan which is owned by Saudi Arabia.

The field was discovered in 1966 and its recoverable reserves are estimated at 2.3 billion barrels.

Iran has accelerated programs to increase its production from Forouzan�field, which is currently at around 40,000 barrels per day,�despite the fact that more than 80% of its hydrocarbon reserves lie in territorial waters of Saudi Arabian.

By Press TV