Petronas, Iran sign co-op deal

Iran

TEHRAN, December 21, 2016 – Malaysia’s Petronas and the National Iranian Oil Company signed an MoU on Wednesday for co-operation on a study of Iran’s South Azadegan and Cheshmeh Khosh oilfields.

Expected to conclude in Q2 2017, the deal was signed between Petronas’ executive vice-president and CEO of upstream, Anuar Taib, and National Iranian Oil Company deputy managing director in engineering and development Gholamreza Manouchehri.

“Iran has provided an opportunity for growth in the Middle East beyond [our] current footprint in Iraq,” Taib said during the signing ceremony in Tehran.

The onshore South Azadegan field is one of Iran’s largest oil plays, holding an estimated 5.2 billion barrels of recoverable crude. Production, which began in April 2014, stands at 110,000 bopd and is projected to rise to 320,000 bopd after a new round of investment. Shell signed a deal on December 7 for development of the field.

South Azadegan is one of Iran’s joint fields shared with Iraq. These have been prioritised for development in the post-sanctions era.

The smaller Cheshmeh Khosh oilfield, holding 250 million boe, has a current output of 72,000 bopd, which is expected to rise to 180,000 bopd. On December 13, Gazprom Neft signed a deal for development of the field.

Both fields are operated by the Iranian Central Oil Fields Company, and both were offered for investment in November 2015 under the Iran Petroleum Contract.

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