Countdown for North Yaran Production
North Yaran is the only oil field in west karoon whose development under a buyback deal has been awarded to an Iranian contractor (Persia Oil and Gas Industry Development Company). According to PEDEC officials, this Iranian contractor has fared well in this field.
Arash Baqerzadeh, director of North Yaran development project, said the project is now 89% complete. He added that this field is to start producing 30,000 b/d of oil from this field by September.
“Drilling operations for 20 production wells (in no man’s land) are over and production from this field will start in September after installation of wellhead equipment,” he said.
Baqerzadeh referred to 70% progress in the gas section of this project, adding that 12 mcf of gas is expected to be produced.
Baqerzadeh highlighted a 71% share of Iranian companies and manufacturers in this project, adding: “We have tried our best to use domestic commodities and equipment as much as possible and the items whose construction and supply were not possible in the country have been procured by European countries. Meantime, drilling operations for the development of North Yaran field have been completely done by Iranian contractors.”
He said that development of North Yaran is forecast in one phase, adding: “But based on new studies, a plan has been envisaged for increasing crude oil production from the southern section of North Yaran oil field by 10,000 b/d. It is currently in the preliminary stage of studies which we hope that a contract will be signed by the end of [the current calendar] year.”
Baqerzadeh said early production from this field started in February 2013 with a capacity of 5,000 b/d. So far, more than 1.4 million barrels of oil has been produced from this field.
North Yaran oil field holds 998 million barrels of oil in place, of which 52.48 million barrels are recoverable.
Infrastructure Ready for Oil Delivery
As far as the development of West Karoun field is concerned, not only production and its increase, but also providing infrastructure for transferring oil from these fields to export points are of high significance.
According to PEDEC officials, the infrastructure for transferring crude oil produced in the West Karoun fields is now ready.
Sirous Aghajari, director of West Karoun and Omidieh pumping facilities, said the first step in the delivery of crude oil from West Karoun fields to export terminals has been providing connection pipelines. He said that in the first stage, 220,000 b/d of oil has been transferred from West Karoun to export spots.
“In the next step, in order to realize the delivery of 300,000 b/d of crude oil to export terminals, there is plan for using West Karoun and Omidieh pumping facilities and a 32-inch pipeline,” he said.
He added that West Karoun and Omidieh pumping facility is expected to become operational in the coming months.
“We need to boost the capacity of pumping facilities in order to be able to transfer 700,000 b/d of oil produced [at West Karoun] to export terminals by the end of the [calendar] year 1397 (20 March 2019),” he said.
Aghajari added that the delivery of heavy crude oil requires 42-inch pipeline and the delivery of light crude oil would need 30-inch pipeline.
He said that the construction of a 1,000-kilometer pipeline, 42 meters in diameter, for the transfer of crude oil to Jask area is in the stage of preliminary studies.
Iraq’s production from its sector of Azadegan and Yaran oil fields stands at 200,000 b/d. Iran and Iraq will be producing in equal measure over the coming months.