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Iran’s Azadagan ‘on stream next week’



By Upstream staff 

Photo by AP


Iran's Azadegan oilfield, a key part of the country’s plans to gradually boost output capacity, will come on stream next week, a local newspaper reported at the weekend.

Seifollah Jashnsaz, managing director of the National Iranian South Oil Company, said Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari would attend a 9 February opening ceremony, a report carried by the English-language Tehran Times said.

Azadegan, in the south-western province of Khuzestan, is Iran's biggest oilfield. In-place reserves have been put at 26 billion barrels.

"It is estimated that the seven wells of the oilfield (will) produce 25,000 barrels of oil per day," Jashnsaz was quoted as saying.

Experts were working on a plan to increase output further to 50,000 bpd, he said, but did not give details on timing. Nozari last month suggested this figure could be reached during 2008.

Iran had previously said it expected the first six wells to produce 20,000 bpd.

Japan's Inpex Holdings had been due to develop the field but talks collapsed in 2006, with the Japanese company citing spiralling investment costs. Inpex retains a 10% stake.

Iran, Opec’s second-largest exporter, produces around 4 million bpd, but says it aims to reach a capacity of 5.6 million bpd in seven years.

Analysts say Iran, under UN and US sanctions over its disputed nuclear programme, needs major foreign investment and expertise in order to meet production targets.

Nozari said separately on Saturday that Iran had discovered a new in the Gulf with estimated reserves of about 11 trillion cubic feet.

"There is a low possibility that it is a joint field (with a neighbouring country)," Nozari told a news conference.


Monday, 04 February, 2008, 07:55 GMT  | last updated: Monday, 04 February, 2008, 07:55 GMT

New field: Iran's Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said the country had uncovered substanitial new gas reserves in the Gulf
 

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