Higher Targets Set for Iran Oil, Gas Production

EghtesadOnline: The National Iranian Oil Company has approved a plan envisioning its target for crude oil and natural gas production in the present fiscal that ends in March 2018.

News ID: ۷۴۱۶۶۳

23 May 2017

According to Shana, the Oil Ministry's official news agency, the plan entails production target for crude oil, gas, gas condensates and naphtha as well as injection of natural gas and water into oilfields to increase their extraction rate.

As per the scheme, oil production is set to rise by 8% that is equivalent to 350,000 barrels per day. However, much of the increase could be offset by natural decline in production of oilfields.

According to reports, the country loses roughly 300,000 bpd in daily production capacity. The regression takes place largely due to the decline in the recovery rate of aging oilfields and lack of technology and machinery to boost extraction, Financial Tribune reported.

Average rate of recovery from Iranian oilfields is reportedly around 25% but should reach 40%. Officials say some oilfields are past their peak production period and the country needs to implement enhanced oil recovery techniques to draw the most from crude reservoirs before their permanent decline.

Based on the NIOC plan, natural gas output will experience a 17% rise, or close to 150 million cubic meters per day. The prospective increase will take gas production to more than 1 billion cubic meters daily by the yearend on the back of bigger supplies from South Pars, the world's largest gas field shared with Qatar in the Persian Gulf.

Latest data show that Iran's total gas output is at 885 mcm/d. In fiscal March 2016-17, gas production from South Pars increased to 520 mcm/d, up more than 150 mcm/d compared with the previous year.

Gas condensates and naphtha output is also forecast to increase by 29%, or some 200,000 barrels a day, to as much as 900,000 bpd.

According to the envisioned plan, natural gas and water injection in oilfields will go up by 50% and 38% respectively.

Reportedly, boosting output from oilfields with Iraq, namely Azadegan, Yadavaran, Yaran as well as Azar Oilfield in Ilam Province and the oil layer of South Pars are high on the agenda.

To raise the country's share from natural gas resources, completing South Pars phases 13, 14, 22, 23 and 24 top the NIOC's priority list.

---- Joint Venture With Iraq

Hossein Amiri Khamkani, spokesman of the Majlis Energy Commission, said in a statement that crude oil production from the West Karoun oil block near the Iraqi border has increased five-fold in the last four years.

"The Oil Ministry should raise investments in joint fields with Iraq," Khamkani said. Under President Hassan Rouhani's administration, West Karoun production capacity has reached 300,000 barrels a day.

Pointing to the government's limited financial resources, he added that it is imperative to prioritize the development of joint oil and gas fields using domestic and foreign finances.

The official added that Tehran and Baghdad have opened talks on developing their shared fields via a single contractor on both the Iranian and Iraqi territories. The two countries share several oilfields, namely Azar, Dehloran, West Paydar, Naft-Shahr, Azadegan and Yadavaran.