Ali Osouli referred to the re-imposition of US sanctions on Iran’s oil and banking sector last May, as a key factor undermining efforts of the oil industry, the Oil Ministry news website Shana reported.
“However, we will continue the talks and plans so that whenever the development policy is put into action, we are prepared to start our activities,” Shana quoted him as saying.
Osouli said talks are underway between Iran and Azerbaijan and KEPCO is coordinating oil deals with the neighboring country, according to Financial Tribune.
Referring to the joint Iranian-Azeri Sardar-e-Jangal Oilfield, off Gilan Province in the Caspian Sea, he said, “A joint committee has been formed by the two neighbors. This is the first time that the two sides are to cooperate in a bloc, which was not fully owned by the two of them. This has made the talks more complicated”.
Osouli said Iran has a skilled workforce that gives the country an advantage in the talks.
Iran is the only nation in the Caspian Sea area, which has no oil and gas activities in the region. This is due partly to the fact that most of Iranian oil and gas fields are in its southern half off the Persian Gulf.
The oilfield is located in the deepest part of the Caspian Sea and Iran still does not have state-of-the-art know-how to carry out deepwater drilling operations.
Sardar-e-Jangal field contains an estimated 1.4 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in-place and some 500 million barrels of recoverable crude.
Founded in 1998, KEPCO has been delegated by the NIOC to explore, develop and produce oil and gas in the three Caspian littoral provinces, namely Mazandaran, Golestan and Gilan.