“PEDEC has signed eight non-disclosure agreements with foreign firms on conducting technical surveys on the South Azadegan field that contains an estimated 33 billion barrels of oil in place, of which 6 billion barrels are deemed recoverable,” Noureddine Shahnazizadeh told ILNA.
Shahnazizadeh named Royal Dutch Shell, Italian oil and gas firm Eni and CNPC, China's largest integrated energy company as other contenders for the oilfield.
During 2016, Shell repaid $1.94 billion in debt to Iran for oil purchases it made before stricter EU sanctions were imposed on Iran in 2012, Financial Tribune reported.
At that time, the Anglo-Dutch firm was buying as much as 200,000 barrels per day or six large cargoes of Iranian oil a month, yet it has bought only three cargoes of Iranian oil since sanctions were eased a year ago.