TEHRAN - Iran’s North Azadegan oil field, which the country shares with Iraq in the West Karoun region, has produced 100 million barrels of oil since it went operational, Shana reported on Saturday, quoting the director of the field’s development project.

According to Esmaeil Qolampour Ahangar, since the field’s officially started operation in the first month of the Iranian calendar year of 1395 (March-April 2016) up to the current date over 100 million barrels of heavy crude oil has been recovered from this field.

The Azadegan oil field is located 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Ahvaz city in southwestern Iran, near the Iraqi border.

Back in November 2019, Qolampour said that the field’s daily production had reached 75,000 barrels.

According to the official, five new wells and an assessment well were planned to be drilled in the field in order to maintain the field’s recovery factor after the fifth and sixth years of production.

Regarding the plans for increasing the field’s output, Ahangar noted that in addition to drilling the mentioned six wells, plans have been made for overhauling the already active wells in order to increase the field’s recovery factor.

He added that for the time being, the developers are using the “Gas Lift" procedure in the wells of the North Azadegan field to improve the recovery factor and maintain the production level.

West Karoun oilfields, which Iran shares with Iraq at the western part of Iran’s southwestern region of Karoun, include five major fields namely North Azadegan, South Azadegan, North Yaran, South Yaran, and Yadavaran.

West Karoun holds great importance for the country’s oil industry since according to the latest studies, its in-situ deposit is estimated to be 67 billion barrels containing both light and heavy crude oils, and therefore it could have a big impact on Iran’s oil output increases in the future.

With the fields fully operational, their output could add 1.2 million bpd to the country’s oil production capacity.

EF/MA