Major contract signed to push up Azadegan output to 550,000 bpd
Iran on Sunday inked a 24-month deal to bring up oil production from 55 wells at the Azadegan field to 550,000 barrels per day (bpd), from around 230,000 bpd currently.
The Integrated Production Services (IPS) contract was signed by Mahmoud Aminnejad, chief executive of Dasht Azadegan Arvand Oil & Gas Development Co. (DACO), and Abbas Sarkari, head of Oil Exploration Operations Co. (OEOC).
Under the agreement, the OEOC will carry out well testing and acidizing operations on the 55 wells to raise output and achieve sustained production.
The work aims to improve well efficiency and make greater use of the field’s existing capacity.
DACO will act as the employer, while the OEOC will serve as the contractor responsible for operations on the designated wells.
Sarkari said the OEOC expected the work to increase production from the wells by at least 40% to 60% in the initial stages.
“The company will develop the field using eight 2,000-horsepower drilling rigs and 13 technical service units,” he added.
Aminnejad said $2.1 billion in investment had been finalized for the field’s development in cooperation with the Oil Ministry, the Economy Ministry and Iran’s National Development Fund.
Esmaeil Gholampour, project manager for the Azadegan development, said the contract was part of a larger integrated development project for the field.
Azadegan is Iran’s largest shared oilfield and lies in the oil-rich southwestern province of Khuzestan near the border with Iraq. Together, its North and South sections form a field known as Majnoon on the Iraqi side of the border.
The field is considered the world’s 10th-largest oilfield and is estimated to contain 33 billion barrels of oil in place, of which around 5.2 billion barrels are considered recoverable for Iran.