Iran's Doroud Oilfield Output Rises

EghtesadOnline: Iranian Offshore Oil Company has increased its crude output from Doroud Oilfield after conducting repairs on the field's main wells.

News ID: ۷۴۷۱۲۶

23 April 2019

According to the National Iranian Oil Company's news portal, the field's current output is 172,500 barrels per day. The field has 60 operating fields.

NIOC added that Well D-6 that was sealed because of technical problems for a long time is once again operational.

"Iranian Offshore Oil Company repaired the well with the help of Well Target-2 offshore rig," NIOC said, noting that oil is extracted from the depth of 5,000 meters, Financial Tribune reported.

Located on Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, Doroud Oilfield includes offshore and onshore facilities known as Doroud 1 & 2. Oil production from this field began in 1964 with the drilling of 18 offshore and 24 onshore wells.

According to Abbas Rajabkhani, director of IOOC, crude production from offshore Kharg Oilfields in the Persian Gulf, namely Abouzar, Forouzan and Doroud, has increased by 2 million barrels over the last two years.

"The oilfields currently produce 451,000 barrels per day, which is 11,000 bpd more than in 2017," he added.

The rise was made possible thanks to the plans of IOOC, a subsidiary of state-owned NIOC. It drilled two new wells and repaired 18 others in the period with the help of six offshore rigs.

The move comes in line with Iran's plan to boost production from offshore hydrocarbon deposits it shares with Arab neighbors.

Giving a breakdown, the official said oil output from Abouzar at 220,000 bpd—one of the prolific offshore oilfields—has risen by 4,000 bpd in the six months.

"The field's output is sent via subsea pipelines to Kharg Oil Terminal," he said.

Abouzar Oilfield, 76 kilometers southwest of the strategic Kharg Island, holds 4 billion barrels of in-place crude oil, but only 20% of the deposit are recoverable.

Referring to Forouzan Oilfield, located 100 km southwest of the island, Rajabkhani said, "The field's output has increased by 3,100 bpd and reached 53,000 bpd."

Forouzan is one of Iran's two oilfields owned jointly with Saudi Arabia. It was discovered by the Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company in 1966 with estimated in-place reserves of 2.3 billion barrels. Production from the field started in 1987 with 180,000 bpd, but fell to 40,000 bpd in 2000.

Iran has 145 hydrocarbon fields, of which 26 are shared with neighbors, including Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan.