Iranian National Oil Company (NIOC) contractors announced on Tuesday that the second phase of the Azar oil field development project has officially begun, with plans to increase crude oil production by 30,000 barrels per day (bpd), Press TV reported.
The project includes drilling 19 new wells in the Azar oil field, according to Keevan Yarahmadi. He added that additional work on site will begin soon, including acid fracturing, pump installation and pipeline construction.
The Azar oil field, located in Ilam province in western Iran, is geologically connected to Iraq’s Badra oil field. It has an estimated 2.5 billion barrels of oil in reserves, of which approximately 400 million barrels are thought to be recoverable.
In March 2024, NIOC signed contracts worth about $13 billion with domestic companies to develop oil fields shared with Iraq. This includes a 20-year, $1.036 billion contract signed with Sarvak Azhar Engineering & Development Company for the second phase of the Azhar oil field project.
Iran has stepped up efforts to jointly develop oil fields with Iraq in recent years, particularly as Iraq continues to rely on major international oil companies to develop its own shared fields.
The largest of the shared fields is the Azadegan field, a 1,500 square kilometer reserve located in oil-rich Khuzestan province and extending to Iraq’s Majnoon field. Azadegan is considered the 10th largest oil field in the world, with reserves estimated at 32 billion barrels.
Iran’s increased reliance on domestic companies for oil projects comes as U.S. sanctions that have been in place since 2018 have restricted the country’s access to foreign investment and technology.
MNA