Kish Field Talks Underway

EghtesadOnline: Domestic and foreign companies are in talks with the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company on the development rights of Kish Gas Field, the Persian Gulf’s second largest gas field after South Pars.

News ID: ۷۸۰۱۰۵

28 October 2017

According to ISNA, the oil and gas multinational Royal Dutch Shell, Italian energy giant Eni, Russia's Gazprom and Iranian firms, including Ghadir Investment Company, a subsidiary of Bank Saderat Iran, and Sanne Yekta Investment Company have signed memoranda of understanding in the past months to conduct feasibility and technical studies on the gas field.

Discovered in 1968, Kish Gas Field is located 30 kilometers east of Lavan Island off the Persian Gulf. The field holds an estimated 1.3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in place and more than 500 million barrels of gas condensate, an ultra light grade of oil.

The gas field is planned to be developed in five phases, Financial Tribune reported.

Based on the report, the field is due to have a 70% extraction rate in the first phase, which will result in the estimated production of 28.3 million cubic meters of natural gas and 11,300 barrels of gas condensates per day.

A top oil official said in March that Shell could win the field's development rights, as it is "the only company to have shown interest" in the Kish project.

Shell presented its development proposal to Iran's Petroleum Engineering and Development Company for the field last month.

According to officials at Kish Petroleum Engineering Company, the field's contractor, the project was hampered by lack of access to machinery and equipment due to international sanctions that were lifted over a year ago.

Tehran has intensified efforts to involve foreign oil and gas majors in its key petroleum industry after years of financial and trade curbs that deprived its economic and energy projects funds and technology.

Total, Gazprom, Schlumberger, Pertamina and Petronas are among the oil majors studying Iran's hydrocarbon reservoirs.