regarding the development of the oil field. After that the development project was assigned to a consortium of Iranian contractors. Now, early production from North Azadegan that will continue in two phases stands at 50,000 b/d. By September, the early output will increase 30,000 b/d and months later it will see another 30,000 b/d increase. In the end, with the full implementation of early production plan, the output of North Azadegan will exceed 110,000 b/d.
Mahmoud Marashi, director of South Azadegan oil field development project, said South Azadegan is expected to produce 320,000 b/d of oil in the first phase. He expressed hope that this objective will be materialized by March 2019.
Marashi said development of South Azadegan oil field envisages drilling 185 wells, adding that 38 wells have so far been drilled and 132 wells are planned to be spudded. He said that drilling of 32 wells is being put out to tender.
According to Marashi, 19 drilling rigs are currently operating in South Azadegan oil field. He said that after the Chinese company was expropriated, more than 270,000 meters of drilling has been done there.
He said that drilling each well cost $12.5 million in 2014, while the figure has sharply dropped to $7.5 million for drilling each well. He attributed this decline in costs to the implementation of Iran’s historic nuclear deal with six world powers, dubbed as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The deal, which was struck in July 2015, came into effect in January.
Marashi said France’s energy giant Total has offered to develop South Azadegan oil field, but Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum plans to put out all development projects to tender.
He said that during preliminary talks, Total agreed to submit a technical proposal to National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and a confidentiality agreement was signed to that effect.
Marashi said Japan’s Inpex has also expressed interest in the development of the second phase of this project.
Yadavaran Deposits Increase
Yadavaran oil field is another joint field located in West Karoun area. Iran shares this field with Iraq. Yadavaran is situated 70 kilometers southwest of the oil-rich city of Ahvaz and north of the city of Khorramshahr in Khuzestan Province. A buy-back deal for its development was signed with China’s Sinopec and the first phase of this project came online in 2008.
The objective behind the first phase development of Yadavaran was 85,000 b/d and currently 100,000 b/d (83,000 b/d of light crude oil and 17,000 b/d of heavy crude oil) is being recovered from this field.
Hadi Nazarpour, director of Yadavaran oil field development project, said production from this joint field has neared 100,000 b/d, while Iraq started its own recovery operation four months ago.
“Since the start of early production plan, some 54 million barrels have been recovered from this field,” he said.
In the second phase, he added, Yadavaran oil field is expected to produce 180,000 b/d of oil. This objective is forecast to be realized in four years. The master development plan (MDP) for this field has been finalized for the second phase development which is to be assigned to Sinopec.
Nazarpour said Yadavaran was initially supposed to be developed in three phases.
He also referred to the oil reserves in-place of this field and newly conducted technical studies to that effect, saying: “According to initial estimates, the in-place reserves of this field were announced at 12 billion barrels. But based on new estimates, they are estimated at 31 billion barrels. In that case, we may be witnessing the third, fourth and fifth phase development of Yadavaran in the future.”
Fahlian oil layer at Yadavaran field is light with API at 40, while Sarvak layer with API of 24 is heavy. The share of domestic manufacturing in Yadavaran field is more than 50%.
In the second phase development of Yadavaran field, 105 wells must be drilled. In this phase, new pipelines will be also laid out in order to bring production from this field to 180,000 b/d.
In the third phase, production from Yadavaran is planned to plateau at 300,000 b/d.