TEHRAN - The first phase of the development project of Azar oil field, in western Iran, is expected to be completed by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2020), managing director of Iran's Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDEC) said.

According to Touraj Dehqani, with the first phase of the development project completed, the field’s output capacity will reach 65,000 barrels per day, Shana reported.

Under the first phase plan, 18 wells have been drilled in the field, all of which are completed, the official said.

Azar, one of the joint fields with Iraq, spans an overall area of 482 square kilometers in southeast of Mehran town in the western Iranian province of Ilam. 

The field is estimated to hold 2.5 billion barrels of oil in place. The volume of possible oil reserves to be extracted from the Azar field is estimated to be around 400 million barrels.

Back in July 2017, Russia’s Gazprom signed a cooperation agreement with Iran’s Oil Industries' Engineering and Construction (OIEC) over the development of the oil field. In December 2017, the two companies submitted their joint plan to the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to develop the field.

According to PEDEC, the cumulative oil extraction from the Azar oil field has reached 20 million barrels since it began operation in March 2017.

As there is still no processing installation at the place of this filed, its output is going to be sent to the processing facilities of Dehloran oil field through a 120-km pipeline, Shana reported.

The field is developed jointly by OIEC and Oil Industry Pension Fund Investment Company (OPIC) in a period of 55 months.

EF/MA