TEHRAN- Germany’s Wintershall Holding GmbH signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to study and explore four oilfields located in the west of Iran.

NIOC Managing Director Rokneddin Javadi and Mario Mehren, the CEO of Wintershall, signed the MOU on Tuesday in Tehran, the IRNA news agency reported.

Wintershall, a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF, is Germany’s largest crude oil and natural gas producer.

Meanwhile, Ali Kardor, deputy director of investment and financing at NIOC said Wintershall would start its studies within a month after the two countries exchanged the required information.

Noting that Wintershall is also keen to cooperate with NIOC in research and development (R&D), Kardor said in future the two companies may collaborate in this filed as well.

Development of joint oil and gas fields is a priority of the Iranian government.   

According to Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Western sanctions have cut Iran’s oil output to 2.7 million bpd from 3.9 million bpd.

In last April, Zanganeh said it would take just a few months for the country to increase its oil production to pre-sanction levels.   

With holding 157 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves, Iran possesses the world’s fourth largest crude oil reserves.   

SJ/MA